US willing to return to nuclear deal, but wants to hold Iran accountable for offences: state department
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The United States says it is willing to return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran, but wants to hold the Islamic Republic responsible for various offences that the deal does not cover, spokesperson of the US state department said on Wednesday.
“What we are doing in Vienna right now is discussing how it is that Iran might resume its compliance with the JCPOA, knowing that it has taken steps away from that agreement over time, and how we in turn might be able to resume our own compliance with the JCPOA which would require sanctions relief,” Ned Price said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
Iranian negotiators and their American counterparts, along with other signatories to the deal, gathered in Vienna on Tuesday to indirectly discuss how to revive the nuclear agreement, which former US President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018. Two working groups are meeting again to hammer out differences.
“We are prepared to take the steps necessary to return to compliance with the JCPOA, including by lifting sanctions that are inconsistent with the JCPOA,” Price added.
While the two countries appear to be inching closer to a mutual understanding, however, the US is voicing concern on non-nuclear matters.
“We are not and will not offer any unilateral gestures or incentives to sweeten any sort of deal or to induce Iran to – back to the negotiating table or to a better position at that negotiating table,” Price said. “This administration is committed, working in many cases with our allies and partners, to holding Iran to account for – its human rights abuses, its support for terrorism, its ballistic missile program.”
Both Washington and Tehran have reneged on their commitments under the deal. Iran has scaled back on measures and installed new advanced centrifuges, as well as increased the enrichment of uranium since mid-2018 when the Trump administration withdrew from the deal and placed Iran under its most rigid sanction regime.
The Iranian side led by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said that Iran would come back into full compliance after the US lifts sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy.
President Hassan Rouhani welcomed the indirect talks on Tuesday with the US in Vienna and said the full implementation of the JCPOA is the way forward for all parties involved.
However, not everyone in Iran seems to be satisfied with the current talks.
“The United States must first lift all sanctions against Iran, and then the move will be verified by Iran, and if approved, then Iran will return to its full obligations under the UN Security Council. This issue is quite clear and does not need to be negotiated,” reads an article on Thursday morning by Iranian hardline newspaper Kayhan, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by the Supreme leader’s office.
“Therefore, Iran's best response to US extravagance and deception is to leave the Vienna summit.”
US officials on the other hand argue that the US is worse off both on the nuclear front and on the regional issue where Iran has become “more aggressive.”
The two expert-level groups are to discuss ways of removing sanctions on Iran and how Tehran could come back into full compliance before a possible Friday meeting of the Joint Commission.
“What we are doing in Vienna right now is discussing how it is that Iran might resume its compliance with the JCPOA, knowing that it has taken steps away from that agreement over time, and how we in turn might be able to resume our own compliance with the JCPOA which would require sanctions relief,” Ned Price said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
Iranian negotiators and their American counterparts, along with other signatories to the deal, gathered in Vienna on Tuesday to indirectly discuss how to revive the nuclear agreement, which former US President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018. Two working groups are meeting again to hammer out differences.
“We are prepared to take the steps necessary to return to compliance with the JCPOA, including by lifting sanctions that are inconsistent with the JCPOA,” Price added.
While the two countries appear to be inching closer to a mutual understanding, however, the US is voicing concern on non-nuclear matters.
“We are not and will not offer any unilateral gestures or incentives to sweeten any sort of deal or to induce Iran to – back to the negotiating table or to a better position at that negotiating table,” Price said. “This administration is committed, working in many cases with our allies and partners, to holding Iran to account for – its human rights abuses, its support for terrorism, its ballistic missile program.”
Both Washington and Tehran have reneged on their commitments under the deal. Iran has scaled back on measures and installed new advanced centrifuges, as well as increased the enrichment of uranium since mid-2018 when the Trump administration withdrew from the deal and placed Iran under its most rigid sanction regime.
The Iranian side led by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said that Iran would come back into full compliance after the US lifts sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy.
President Hassan Rouhani welcomed the indirect talks on Tuesday with the US in Vienna and said the full implementation of the JCPOA is the way forward for all parties involved.
However, not everyone in Iran seems to be satisfied with the current talks.
“The United States must first lift all sanctions against Iran, and then the move will be verified by Iran, and if approved, then Iran will return to its full obligations under the UN Security Council. This issue is quite clear and does not need to be negotiated,” reads an article on Thursday morning by Iranian hardline newspaper Kayhan, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by the Supreme leader’s office.
“Therefore, Iran's best response to US extravagance and deception is to leave the Vienna summit.”
US officials on the other hand argue that the US is worse off both on the nuclear front and on the regional issue where Iran has become “more aggressive.”
The two expert-level groups are to discuss ways of removing sanctions on Iran and how Tehran could come back into full compliance before a possible Friday meeting of the Joint Commission.