US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday questioned Iran’s willingness to return to compliance with the nuclear deal, after weeks of slow-moving talks in Vienna.
Indirect talks with Iran have "clarified what each side needs to do in order to come back into compliance", Mr Blinken told ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
“We know what sanctions would need to be lifted if they’re inconsistent with the nuclear agreement,” he said.
“But as important, and indeed more important, Iran – I think – knows what it needs to do to come back into compliance on the nuclear side. And what we haven’t seen is whether Iran is ready and willing to make a decision to do what it has to do. That’s the test and we don’t yet have an answer.”
Mr Blinken spoke as Iran’s three-month deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency expired. The agreement, brokered in February, allowed the watchdog’s inspectors access to surveillance footage of Iranian nuclear sites.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Qalibaf said yesterday that the inspectors would no longer have access to the surveillance footage.
Mr Blinken repeated that the Biden administration wanted to revive the nuclear deal before addressing issues such as Tehran's funding of proxies across the Middle East.
"The first thing we need to do is put the nuclear problem back in the box," Mr Blinken said. "That's why we're committed to trying to see if Iran will come back into compliance with the nuclear agreement."
Mr Blinken vowed the Biden administration would use a revived nuclear deal “as a platform to build on and to try to deal with these other issues”.
Since former president Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018, Iran has gradually scaled up its breaches of the agreement.
As officials get ready to convene in Vienna this week for the latest round of talks, Mr Blinken is expected to visit the Middle East after the Egypt-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas last week.
"We have to deal with making this turn from the violence – we have got the ceasefire – and now deal with the humanitarian situation, deal with reconstruction and deepen our existing engagement with Palestinians and with Israelis alike," he said.
Iran's nuclear programme - in pictures
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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, right, and the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi inspect the nuclear technology on the occasion of Iran National Nuclear Technology Day in Tehran in 2019. EPA -
IR-8 centrifuges at Natanz nuclear power plant, some 300 kilometres south of capital Tehran. AFP -
The Iranian nuclear power plant in Bushehr in 2010. EPA -
Salehi speaks with media while visiting Natanz enrichment facility, in central Iran in 2019. Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP -
The gate of Natanz nuclear power plant in Natanz , Isfahan province, in 2019. EPA -
Inside of the Iran's Fordow nuclear facility, in Fordow, Qom province in 2019. EPA -
Technicians work at the Arak heavy water reactor's secondary circuit, as officials and media visit the site, near Arak, Iran in 2019. Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP -
Members of the media and officials tour the water nuclear reactor at Arak in 2019. WANA via Reuters -
Concrete is poured for the base of the second nuclear power reactor at Bushehr plant in 2019. Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP
