Iran’s latest response in the ongoing negotiations to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal is a step backwards. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this today in Brussels.
The international nuclear deal signed with Iran in 2015 has been in the fridge for years. The purpose of the agreement with the permanent members of the UN Security Council, the United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom (plus Germany), was to impose restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program so that the country cannot develop nuclear weapons. . In return, sanctions were lifted against Iran.
However, former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from the agreement in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions. Iran then also began to violate the terms of the agreement, including by enriching more uranium than allowed.
First step forward, now one back
The European Union, coordinator of the talks, presented on August 8 what it called a “final text” to restore the agreement buried by Trump in 2018. Iran responded with a new proposal at the beginning of September, but that does not seem to the liking of the US.
“We had taken steps forward in recent weeks,” Blinken said in Brussels today. Iran has waived some of the demands of the US, France, UK, China, Russia and Germany, Blinken said. “The last answer takes us backwards,” said Blinken. He added that the US is unwilling to compromise on its own demands.
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