With the Iran nuclear talks reaching a critical juncture, the White House intends to focus much of its public messaging in the coming weeks on bashing former President Donald Trump for pulling out of the 2015 agreement, two sources briefed on the White House plans told Axios.

The Biden administration believes it is now only a matter of weeks before the critical decision point: either a deal will be reached and the US will return to the nuclear deal, or talks will break down and the administration will move to put more pressure on Iran.

Blame game on 

Both scenarios will elicit political opposition, particularly from Republicans, but the White House hopes to keep Democrats together in part by emphasizing that it was Trump who precipitated the crisis and left them with only bad options.

"They are going to focus the fire on Trump," one source told Axios.

The White House, according to a senior administration official, will "continue to clearly state the facts and set the record straight at this critical moment for diplomacy and important point in history."

According to the two sources, the Biden administration has set a decision deadline of the end of January or early February and intends to ramp up its public messaging on Iran before then.

The White House hopes that current and former officials in the United States and “Israel” who believe Trump's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal was a mistake will spread the message.

Taking aim on the target

During the State Department's press briefing on Tuesday, US spokesperson Ned Price deflected a question about the Vienna talks into an attack on the previous US administration.

“It’s worth spending just a moment on how we got here," Price said.

"It is deeply unfortunate that because of an ill-considered or perhaps unconsidered decision by the previous administration that this administration came into office without these stringent verification and monitoring protocols that were in place," he added.

The top American official stressed that the Trump administration promised a better deal “that never came close", with Iran instead being able "to gallop forward with its nuclear promise."

Read More: A JCPOA revival in 2022?

What's on the horizon?

The chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Vahid Jalalzadeh, said that Tehran is reviewing proposals made by the 4+1 for a temporary deal during the Vienna talks.

“Proposals made by the 4+1 for temporary agreement are not Iran's ideal; however, they are under review”, Jalalzadeh added.

The top Iranian diplomat went on to say that “the proposals are neither accepted nor rejected”.

“Iran is after a permanent agreement which safeguards Islamic Republic's interests; however, we must acknowledge that the temporary deal does not jeopardize the strategic push to lift the sanctions and preserve national interests,” he stressed.

Jalalzadeh added that “the West has been disloyal to its commitments, so it should take effective steps towards compensating for the lost confidence.”

"The West is aware of Iran's capabilities and is concerned about the negotiations' length and its slow pace, which is why I proposed a temporary deal which will be followed by a permanent agreement," he concluded.