ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Washington urged Tehran to prioritize resuming nuclear negotiations in Vienna, saying the window to revive the nuclear accord will not remain open forever as Iran’s breakout time for producing fissile material for a nuclear weapon continues to shrink. “We’re treating it as an urgent priority to return to the diplomacy,” US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Thursday. Talks in Vienna to lift US sanctions and bring Iran back into full compliance with its nuclear obligations began in April and the latest round wrapped up in June with good progress made, but further negotiations were suspended until after newly elected Ebrahim Raisi was sworn in as president. In a speech after he was sworn in on Thursday, Raisi said, “Sanctions against the Iranian nation must be lifted. We will support any diplomatic plans that will realise this goal.” After Washington withdrew from the nuclear deal and re-imposed sanctions in 2018, Iran steadily walked back on its obligations under the accord, boosting its enrichment of uranium and bringing more advanced centrifuges online. The breakout time for Iran to be able to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon is now “a handful of months,” said Price, down from the year provided in the nuclear deal and that is why the negotiation process “cannot go on indefinitely,” he said. Iran has said it does not want to obtain a nuclear weapon and its program is for civilian purposes only.
