Blinken: No prospect for Iran deal, Russia not interested in diplomacy
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken negates diplomacy with Russia but maintains that it is the best way to approach the Iranian nuclear deal.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at George Washington University in Washington, DC, on May 26, 2022
In a press conference on Friday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken expressed that the United States is still interested in reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and that diplomacy is the best way to approach this issue however so far an agreement again is unlikely.
Following a meeting with his French counterpart, Blinken said, "We continue to believe that diplomacy is the best way to do that," claiming that "at this moment, there's no prospect for an agreement again, because Iran continues to inject extraneous issues into the conversations that we've had in the European Union."
Last September, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stated that the JCPOA negotiation talks intended to lift sanctions on Iran and bring the US back into the nuclear deal are in a "stalemate".
Over the past year and a half, efforts have been mobilized to revive the JCPOA deal after then-President Donald Trump, with encouragement from then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had America withdraw from it in 2018 - stating that the agreement was "a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made," claiming that "it didn't bring calm, it didn't bring peace, and it never will."
Russia shows no sign to engage in diplomacy: Blinken
The Secretary of State also discussed the current relations with Russia, stating that the US currently considers and will "consider every means to advance diplomacy if we see an opening to advance it by whatever means. Of course, we'll always look at it."
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Blinked claimed that currently "Russia shows no signs of being willing to engage in meaningful diplomacy by any means," as it shows a lack of interest in ending the war in Ukraine.
Relations between Moscow and Washington have been strained since Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine in late February.
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The US and its Western partners are sending billions of dollars worth of weapons, not to mention facilitating the way for mercenaries to fight in Ukraine.
Most recently, tensions escalated between the US and Russia after Washington accused Moscow that it is using Iranian drones to use in its war in Ukraine.
The US State Department said in a statement that it is committed to imposing sanctions to prevent Iran from allegedly delivering "dangerous weaponry" to Russia.
Iran and Russia have denied US allegations concerning suspected Iranian military sales to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine.
Tehran requested documents from Kiev documenting and proving Russia's usage of Iranian drones in Ukraine as part of the ongoing war, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova slammed on Thursday the allegations that Iran has been supplying drones to Russia as "a set of groundless speculations," adding that "the rumors about [deliveries of] Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles being spread by some independent, unnamed and closed sources in the American media have been refuted in recent days by both Iranian and Russian officials."
Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said the drones used in Ukraine were Russian-made, noting that images of the drones downed clearly show Russian inscriptions on them.
In the same context, Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeed Iravani, rejected "unfounded and unsubstantiated” claims that Tehran has supplied Moscow with UAVs for use in the war in Ukraine.
