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National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan took an ominous tone Friday when speaking about efforts to bring Iran back in line with a 2015 nuclear agreement saying, “It’s not going well.”
“We do not yet have a pathway back into the JCPOA,” he said, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
BIDEN TOLD TEAM TO ‘BE PREPARED’ FOR FAILED NUCLEAR TALKS WITH IRAN: PSAKI
President Hassan Rouhani, second right, listens to head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi while visiting an exhibition of Iran’s new nuclear achievements in Tehran, Iran, in April.
Sullivan said there has been “some progress” over the last few days but did not appear hopeful that a concrete resolution would be found following months of indirect talks with Tehran.
President Biden made it a top priority for his administration to bring Iran back to the negotiating table and re-enter the JCPOA, which fell apart after the Trump administration removed the U.S. from the agreement in 2018.
While European allies warned the move could weaken the nuclear agreement, the Trump administration maintained its withdrawal did not void Iran’s part of the bargain.
But by the end of Trump’s time in office, Iran began blocking access to international inspections of its nuclear facilities and continued developing its nuclear capabilities.
“Since we walked away from a deal that had fundamentally put a lid on Iran’s nuclear program, they have raced that program forward,” Sullivan said Friday, speaking from an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations.
The election of anti-Western President Ebrahim Raisi in June only further stonewalled Western efforts to negotiate with Tehran, and Iran has repeatedly paused talks with the other signatories of the JCPOA.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi addresses the parliament during a vote of confidence session for the education minister, in Tehran, Iran.
(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Source : foxnews
