Iran’s response to nuclear deal text ‘not constructive,’ US says

Washington, Sep 1 (EFE).- The United States said Thursday that the response it has received from Iran to return to the 2015 nuclear pact was “not constructive” after days of optimism that a deal would soon be reached.

“We can confirm that we have received Iran’s response through the EU (European Union),” a US State Department spokesman told reporters.

“We are studying it and will respond through the EU, but unfortunately it is not constructive.”

Tehran had a differing opinion, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani saying “the text has a constructive approach with the aim of finalizing the negotiations,” according state broadcaster IRIB on Friday.

Iran has been negotiating for 16 months with Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, China and, indirectly, with the United States the restoration of the 2015 nuclear agreement.

The pact limited the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions, but in 2018 then-US president Donald Trump abandoned it and imposed new sweeping sanctions on Tehran.

The EU presented a final text in Vienna on Aug. 8, which Washington and Tehran have been negotiating with the mediation of Brussels.

In recent days, officials had expressed optimism that the agreement would soon be closed.

“We do believe we’re closer now than we have been in certain recent weeks and months due in large part to Iran being willing to drop some of their demands that were not related to the deal at all,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday, adding that Washington was “cautiously optimistic.”

The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said Wednesday he was “hoping that in the coming days we are not going to lose this momentum and we can close the deal.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in Moscow that the decision on the agreement could come soon, although he made it a condition that guarantees that Tehran demand from the UN atomic agency be worked on.

Specifically, Iran has called for the closure of an investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into the origin of trace amounts of uranium found in the country that had not been declared.

The US has opposed making the nuclear deal conditional on a closure of the UN nuclear agency’s investigation. EFE

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