US still believes in getting back into JCPOA with Iran: NSC
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The United States still believes that the nuclear deal with Iran can be revived after years of hiatus.
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US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby
The United States still believes in the revival of the 2015 accord, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, with Iran, US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said Saturday in light of the European Union's announcement about the resumption of the nuclear talks in Vienna.
"We still believe in getting back into the JCPOA. I can't speak to the status of where the negotiations are right now, but nothing has changed about our position that a nuclear deal is the best way to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons status," Kirby told reporters on his way to the G7 summit in Germany.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell met earlier today with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in Tehran, in an effort to put the talks back on track after a derailing in March that took place due to Washington's refusal to make concessions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said at a joint news conference in Tehran with Borrell that indirect talks between Iran and the US regarding the JCPOA would resume soon.
The Vienna talks between major powers and Iran aim to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement and return the United States to it following a unilateral withdrawal from the US in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump, who accompanied his decision with the imposition of harsh sanctions on Tehran.
Previously, Amir-Abdollahian had said that had the US dealt "realistically" during the last round of talks in Vienna, the member states would have been closer than ever to signing an accord.
The multiparty nuclear agreement was signed to provide sanction relief to Iran in exchange for the Islamic Republic reducing its nuclear activities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors adopted in early June a draft resolution submitted by the US and the E3, criticizing Iran for what they claim were incomplete answers given to the IAEA on uranium traces at "undeclared sites". These claims were quickly refuted by the Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami, who said that Iran has neither secret or unwritten nuclear activities nor unreported nuclear sites.
Following that report, Iran abandoned all commitments beyond the Safeguards Agreement in response to the IAEA's Board of Governors' adoption of an anti-Iran resolution, an Iranian lawmaker revealed, condemning the resolution passed by the agency.
