by Arshad Mohammed and Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The window to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is still open but will not remain so indefinitely, a senior US official said on Thursday, noting that Iran has yet to appoint a negotiator in leader or set a date for the resumption of discussions.
Washington and Tehran began indirect talks in Vienna last April, where the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed in 2015, under the aegis of the world powers still part of the agreement.
These talks aimed at bringing Iran and the United States back into the framework of the JCPOA were postponed in June, in the wake of the Iranian presidential election, which resulted in the victory of Ebrahim Raïssi, a supporter of one line. hard on the West.
Since then, the administration of US President Joe Biden, in favor of a return to the agreement denounced by his predecessor Donald Trump in 2018, has repeated that it is open to dialogue but that time is running out.
In Washington’s eyes, Tehran’s advances in its nuclear program may at some point become too great, and it will be up to the Western powers to determine Iran’s real willingness to return to the deal, the deal said. high American representative.
“We are still interested. We always want to come back to the negotiating table,” he told reporters by phone, on condition of anonymity. “The window is open. It won’t be forever if Iran takes a different path.”
Tehran on Tuesday expressed its intention to resume negotiations in Vienna in the coming weeks, without giving a precise timetable. Ebrahim Raïssi stressed that he wanted a resumption of talks leading to the lifting of US sanctions, reinstated by the Trump administration.
Negotiating an end to US sanctions is necessary for Iran to revive its economy, but observers expect the new government in Tehran to take an even more rigid stance than the previous one if talks in Vienna resume.
The senior US representative declined to say what options Washington is considering in the event of non-resumption of talks and abandonment of the 2015 agreement.
Western powers stress that time is running out as Iran continues to enrich uranium beyond the limits set by the JCPOA, from which it has freed itself since 2019. Tehran assures that it does not want to acquire it. nuclear weapon.
In Paris, the spokeswoman for the Quai d’Orsay, Anne-Claire Legendre, declared that “time is not on our side with regard to a potential agreement, because Iran is taking advantage of the postponements to make it worse. its nuclear violations, making it more and more complicated to return to the PAGC “.
An Iranian nuclear meeting was planned this week in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, but did not take place.
(Report Arshad Mohammed in Washington and Humeyra Pamuk at the United Nations, with John Irish in Paris; French version Jean Terzian, edited by Nicolas Delame)
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