WASHINGTON \u2013 September 13 (ONLINE)
\nIran has taken \u201ca step backward\u201d with its latest response to a nuclear deal proposal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday, calling a near-term agreement \u201cunlikely.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen over the last week or so in Iran\u2019s response to the proposal put forward by the European Union is clearly a step backward and makes prospects for an agreement in the near-term, I would say, unlikely,\u201d Blinken told reporters, speaking from Mexico City, where he met with Mexican President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador.<\/p>\n
The United States and Iran have traded responses via the European Union to a proposal put forward by the EU\u2019s top diplomat, Josep Borrell. Iran submitted its initial answer in mid-August; the US replied to it about a week later.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Iran sent its latest answer, which a State Department spokesperson called \u201cnot constructive.\u201d<\/p>\n
As CNN previously reported, according to a US senior administration official, Iran in its latest response reopened the issue of the UN nuclear watchdog\u2019s investigation into undeclared uranium traces found at Iranian sites. Iranian officials had repeatedly said that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) probe would need to be closed before they would return to the deal. However, a separate US senior administration official suggested last month that Iran had accepted the EU proposal \u2013 described by Borrell as the \u201cfinal text\u201d \u2013 without making demands regarding the investigation.<\/p>\n
Blinken said Monday he could not offer a time frame for when he thinks it will be possible to reenter an Iran nuclear deal, saying Iran is either \u201cunwilling or unable to do what is necessary to reach an agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey continue to try to introduce extraneous issues to the negotiation that make an agreement less likely,\u201d Blinken said. \u201cBut certainly what we\u2019ve seen in the last week is a step backward away from the likelihood of any kind of near-term agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
US officials had previously voiced some optimism around the latest efforts to revive the nuclear deal \u2013 which the US left in 2018 during the Trump administration and which Tehran has increasingly violated since then \u2013 but hopes of a breakthrough have continued to fade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON \u2013 September 13 (ONLINE) Iran has taken \u201ca step backward\u201d with its latest response to a nuclear deal proposal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday, calling a near-term agreement \u201cunlikely.\u201d \u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen over the last week or so in Iran\u2019s response […]<\/p>\n
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