“It is very difficult for us to imagine going back to the agreement when 4 Americans are held hostage”
The United States is unlikely to make a pact with Iran to salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear deal unless Tehran releases four US citizens being held hostage by Washington, Washington said on Sunday. Reuters a senior official.
US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley reiterated the long-standing US position that the issue of the four people detained in Iran is separate from the nuclear negotiations.
He has since come a little closer to the idea that their release was a precondition for a nuclear deal.
“These are two separate files and we’re dealing with both. But I will say it’s very hard for us to imagine going back into the nuclear deal when four innocent Americans are being held hostage by Iran,” Mr Malley told the news agency in an interview.
“So even as we are conducting talks with Iran indirectly on the nuclear issue, we are, again indirectly, conducting discussions with them to secure the release of our hostages,” he said in Vienna. where talks are underway to bring Washington and Tehran back into full compliance with the deal.
“Such irrelevant preconditions from Washington will make it difficult to reach an agreement in Vienna,” Iranian state news agency IRNA reported.
At the same time, Russia has discussed with Iran the possibility of an interim agreement that would grant limited sanctions relief against the Islamic Republic in exchange for the reimposition of certain restrictions on its nuclear program, according to NBC.
The United States was “informed” of the proposal, without the Biden administration being involved.
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