On Thursday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned that negotiations to save the Iranian nuclear deal “cannot continue indefinitely”, but added that Washington was “fully prepared” to continue talks.
“We are committed to diplomacy, but this process cannot continue indefinitely,” Blinken said during a visit to Kuwait on Thursday. “We will see if Iran is ready to take the necessary decisions, and we are fully prepared to return to Vienna to continue negotiations.”
“The ball is in Iran’s court,” he added.
Negotiations seem to be stalled until the new Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, assumed his duties in early August.
Raisi is a hard-line conservative but has expressed his support for the nuclear talks, arguing that Iran should end US sanctions.
The hard-line conservative camp has repeatedly criticized Rouhani over the 2015 deal.
The United States is holding indirect talks with Iran, through the other states parties to the international agreement, which granted Iran relief from international sanctions imposed on it in return for restricting its nuclear program.
But the deal suffered a setback in 2018, when then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from it and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
In response to the US withdrawal, as of 2019, Iran has gradually retreated from respecting most of its core commitments under the agreement.
