US says unclear Iran ready for nuclear pact return

May 24, 2021, 03:07 AMlatest revision May 24, 2021, 03:09 AM

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said it remains unclear whether Iran is “ready and willing” to take the necessary steps to return to compliance with the multinational nuclear agreement.

Speaking ahead of a fifth round of talks in Vienna on rescuing that deal, Blinken was asked Sunday about Iranian reports that Washington had already agreed to lift some of the sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy.

“We know what sanctions would need to be lifted if they’re inconsistent with the nuclear agreement,” he said on ABC’s “This Week”.

He added that more importantly, “Iran, I think, knows what it needs to do to come back into compliance on the nuclear side, and what we haven’t yet seen is whether Iran is ready and willing to make a decision.

“That’s the test and we don’t yet have an answer.”

Donald Trump in 2018 walked away from the deal, saying Tehran had violated its “spirit” and remained a regional threat. 

His successor Joe Biden wants to revive the plan, and Blinken has been working with the other parties to the 2015 accord, to that end.

For that to happen, Washington would need to lift the sanctions reinstated by Trump while Tehran would have to re-commit to the terms of the deal, from which it progressively withdrew after Trump’s 2018 move.

“The lifting of Trump’s sanctions … is a legal & moral obligation. NOT negotiating leverage,” Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reacted to Blinken to Twitter.

“Didn’t work for Trump – won’t work for you.”

Also addressing Biden, Zarif said: “Trump’s legacy is past its expiration date. Drop it.”