Kirby: closer to a nuclear deal than two weeks earlier

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
24 Aug 2022 22:58

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says the US will not negotiate in public when asked about the US' remarks on the EU's nuclear deal proposal with Iran.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby (White House)

When asked whether the US has reacted to the EU's Iran nuclear proposal and Tehran's remarks on the suggested draft, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby stated to reporters on Wednesday that the Biden administration will not negotiate in public.

Kirby said during the press conference that "We're not going to want to negotiate this thing in public and hash out every step of the process here and publicly," and added that he can confirm that Iran did drop a few concessions that were vital to the progress made in the revival of the nuclear deal.

Kirby stated that there are still issues that must be resolved in the negotiations with Iran, including Tehran's refusal to cooperate with an IAEA inquiry into its nuclear program.

According to Kirby, the IAEA discovered small amounts of nuclear material in Iran that had not been disclosed, and they now need to know where that stuff is in order to be certain that Iran does not possess any nuclear material that is not under IAEA oversight.

On August 23, Israeli media cited a security source revealing that "the United States of America has relinquished all its demands to Iran." The source explains that "the assessment is that at this stage the crystallized agreement cannot be stopped," and that "Tehran got the dream deal."

Furthermore, on the same date, the advisor to the Iranian delegation in the Vienna negotiations, Seyed Mohammad Marandi, said, on Tuesday, that what is being promoted through the Western media about the course of the ongoing negotiations to reach an agreement is "misleading", and that the Iranian nuclear program "will not be dismantled."

In a tweet via his personal account, Marandi responded to a Reuters article titled "Exclusive: Iran has dropped some demands for the nuclear deal, U.S. official says" by arguing that the title is "very misleading," and that "I've said for MONTHS, removing the Guards from the FTO is not a precondition. No deal will be implemented before the IAEA Board of Directors PERMANENTLY closes the false accusations file."