A senior US official said on Monday that the US hopes to resume nuclear talks with Iran soon.
“We are hopeful that we can be back in Vienna (for talks) in a very short time,” the senior administrative official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters.
A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry said on Monday that a new round of discussions could begin in early November.
Iran’s nuclear activity will be at the center of talks between the US and Israel national security teams in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Israel’s National Security Adviser Eyal Hulta and his White House counterpart, Jake Sullivan, will attend a meeting of the US-Israel Strategic Consultative Group, a grouping of representatives from the two countries’ diplomatic, military and intelligence agencies.
President Joe Biden – who reversed his predecessor Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States from international talks to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions – is keen to resolve the impasse diplomatically.
The US official said, “The road remains open for talks in Vienna. The Iranians are sending signals to several parties that they are preparing to return to Vienna and of course we will have to see if they get involved again.” are or not.” creatively process or not.”
The official said that despite Israel’s skepticism, the Biden administration “believes very strongly that the diplomatic route is best.”
However, the official said the White House and Israel’s new government agree that Iran has made rapid progress since Trump abandoned international efforts to monitor Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Tehran insists it does not want nuclear weapons, only an energy industry.
“We have a general assessment that Iran’s nuclear program has been dramatically out of the box since the last administration abandoned the Iran nuclear deal,” the official said. “The breakout time, which means enriched uranium reserves and in other ways. Look at it, it’s gone from about 12 months to a couple of months. So obviously that’s pretty dangerous.”
The official added that the United States believes that diplomacy “would be the best way to put a ceiling on the program and to withdraw the gains made by Iran in recent years.” However, there is no movement to lift the sanctions and if diplomacy doesn’t work “there are other avenues.” “We think the responsibility lies with the Iranian side right now,” the official said.
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