The United States on Friday urged Iran and Russia to take the “decisions” needed to quickly reach an Iranian nuclear deal, saying the ball was in their court to break the impasse.
While negotiators meeting in Vienna announced a ‘pause’ and their return to their respective capitals, ‘we believe that the 2015 Iran nuclear deal can be ‘saved’ if these decisions are made in places like Tehran. and Moscow,” US Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Price said.
EU announces pause ‘due to external factors’
On the verge of concluding a week ago, these talks are now threatened by Russia, which is demanding additional guarantees linked to the Western sanctions to which it is subject because of its invasion of Ukraine. Moscow is asking for a guarantee that these sanctions will not hinder its trade with Tehran.
The European Union, which coordinates talks between major powers and Iran, announced a pause on Friday “due to external factors”.
“The new Russia-related sanctions are completely unrelated” to the Iran nuclear deal and “should have no impact” on those discussions, Ned Price said. “We have no intention of offering Russia anything new or specific”, “it is not necessary”, he added.
He confirmed that US envoy Rob Malley and his team had also returned to Washington. “There is very little time left” to save the agreement supposed to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring the atomic bomb, added the spokesperson.
–
