WASHINGTON
\nWashington denied suggestions it is stalling a potential agreement to resurrect the Iran nuclear deal after a \u201cfinal\u201d draft was circulated, but said outstanding questions remain. \u201cThe notion that we have delayed this negotiation in any way is just not true,\u201d said State Department spokesman Ned Price.
\nAfter the EU sent the proposed text to both Tehran and Washington in late July, Iran \u201cresponded with several comments,\u201d Price said, without being specific. \u201cThis is why it has taken us some additional time to review those comments and to determine our response of our own,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe are seriously reviewing those comments.\u201d
\nEarlier Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who is leading the effort to bring the United States and Iran together in agreement, suggested Washington was now slowing the process.
\n\u201cThere was an Iranian response that I considered reasonable to transmit to the United States,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe United States has not formally replied yet. But we are waiting for their response and I hope that response will allow us to finish the negotiation \u2014 I hope so, but I can\u2019t assure you of it.\u201d
\nPrice said Washington was \u201cencouraged\u201d by the fact that Tehran appeared to have dropped an earlier demand that, to complete a deal, the United States remove its formal designation of the Islamic Republican Guard Corps as an international terrorist organization.
\nThat was one of the issues that has appeared to hold up progress on a final agreement that was sketched out in March.
\nHowever, Price added, \u201cthere are still some outstanding issues that must be resolved, some gaps that must be bridged, if we are able to get there.\u201d
\n\u201cWe are working as quickly as we can to put together an appropriate response to the Iranian paper,\u201d he said.
\nIran and major global powers struck a deal in 2015 to limit Tehran\u2019s nuclear program with the aim of preventing it from obtaining nuclear weapons.
\nBut in 2018 US President Donald Trump, a strong critic of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), unilaterally pulled out and slapped heavier sanctions on Iran.
\nSince then Iran has accelerated its nuclear research and development activities, getting closer to where it would be able to create a nuclear bomb.
\nSince coming into office in January 2021, US President Joe Biden has pressed to revive the JCPOA in exchange for alleviating sanctions on Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON Washington denied suggestions it is stalling a potential agreement to resurrect the Iran nuclear deal after a \u201cfinal\u201d draft was circulated, but said outstanding questions remain. \u201cThe notion that we have delayed this negotiation in any way is just not true,\u201d said State Department spokesman Ned Price. After the EU sent the proposed text […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-279105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n