US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that a revived nuclear deal with Iran in the near future is “unlikely,” based on Iran’s response to the European Union’s most recent proposal for reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. “What we’ve seen over the last week or so in Iran’s 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,” Blinken said on Monday during a visit to Mexico City.
Over the weekend, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, known as the E3 countries and all signatories to the original Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, issued a joint statement raising “serious doubts on Iranian intentions and commitment to a successful outcome” of the negotiations. Iran earlier this month sent its latest response to the European Union’s proposed text to revive the agreement. Iran has demanded that the IAEA probe into the undeclared sites be closed as a condition for signing on to an updated nuclear agreement with the world powers. Iran signed the nuclear agreement with the P5+1 group of world powers in July 2015. The agreement calls for Iran to curb its nuclear program in return for the removal of sanctions on the country. Many of the agreement’s provisions, including the limits set on Iran’s enrichment of uranium, were to expire after 15 years. Former US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Tehran, prompting the latter to violate its own commitments under the pact. Talks on reviving the agreement first began in April 2021.