Robert Malley, the US envoy in charge of the Iranian file, said that if Iran does not work quickly to return to the table of nuclear talks, which will start next week, Washington will not sit "idly."

In a statement he made on Tuesday to national radio, Malley said that “if they start getting too close, too close for comfort, then, of course, we will not be prepared to sit idly,” Malley told National Public Radio in excerpts released Tuesday."

After a five-month hiatus, discussions between Iran and the major nations will restart in Vienna on Monday in an attempt to resurrect the accord with Tehran over its nuclear program.

Today, Wednesday, Rafael Grossi, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), returned from a visit to Iran and declared that no progress had been made in talks over the Iranian nuclear program.

In turn, the Supreme Commander of the US forces in the Middle East said that his forces are ready for a possible military option in the event of the failure of talks between Tehran and world powers.

Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of US Central Command, told TIME: "Our president said they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.” “The diplomats are in the lead on this, but Central Command always has a variety of plans that we could execute if directed,” he added.

Nuclear talks and US sanctions 

US President Joe Biden's administration had indirectly participated in the talks earlier this year, hoping to revive the nuclear deal, after former President Donald Trump had withdrawn Washington from it.

However, the US administration's efforts to reach an understanding with Iran have so far not been fruitful.

Robert Malley said, "We’re prepared to get back into the deal and to lift all of the sanctions that are inconsistent with the deal. So if Iran wants to get back into the deal, it has a way to do that..."

“If it doesn’t want to get back into the deal, if it continues to do what it appears to be doing now, which is to drag its feet at the nuclear diplomatic table and accelerate its pace when it comes to its nuclear program, if that’s the path it chooses, we’ll have to respond accordingly,” he added.

The talks will be informally conducted since the European Union envoy will speak with both Malley and the Iranian delegation, who refused to meet with the US representative face to face.

Moreover, Iran demands the lifting of all sanctions imposed on it, but the Biden administration insists that it is looking exclusively at lifting the measures imposed by Trump, in the context of the United States' withdrawal from the agreement.