The Biden administration says it is ready to join talks with Iran and world powers to consider a return to the 2015 nuclear deal.
The US will be invited to join talks and discuss a ‘diplomatic way forward’ with Iran, the State Department said.
The State Department said the U.S. would accept an invitation from the European Union to attend a meeting of the partners in the original agreement.
No such invitation has been issued yet but one is expected soon, following talks earlier on Thursday between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British, French and German contemporaries.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will speak at the State Department on Thursday, February. 4, 2021, in Washington. (Photo AP / Evan Vucci)
‘The United States would accept an invitation from the High Representative of the European Union to attend a meeting of the P5 + 1 and Iran to discuss a diplomatic way forward on Iran’s nuclear program,’ said the Department of State in consultation Ned Price in a statement.
Earlier on Thursday, Blinken and the foreign ministers of Britain, Germany and France urged Iran to allow ongoing UN nuclear investigations and to stop nuclear activity that does not have reliable civilian practice. They warned that Iran’s actions could threaten subtle efforts to bring the U.S. back to the 2015 treaty and end sanctions that would harm Iran’s economy.
The move comes a day after President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and considered what Netanyahu called a ‘Iranian threat.’ He has called for a return to the agreement negotiated during the Obama administration. But his prime diplomat has said Iran must take action first before the U.S. can return to talks.
President Joe Biden has called for a return to Iran’s nuclear deal, and spoke about Iran on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, said his country was not looking for a nuclear bomb and said ‘we did not have secret nuclear activity today, not yesterday and not in the future and this is total diplomacy of the regime ‘
![Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (C front) and Permanent Representative to the DA Vasily Nebenzya (R front) will attend a ministerial meeting of the P5 + 1 countries [Russia, China, United Kingdom, France and Germany] and Iran held on the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly](https://i0.wp.com/i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/02/18/23/39468778-9276303-image-a-3_1613689258283.jpg?resize=560%2C374&ssl=1)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (C front) and Permanent Representative to the DA Vasily Nebenzya (R front) will attend a ministerial meeting of the P5 + 1 countries [Russia, China, United Kingdom, France and Germany] and Iran held on the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly
Iran is ‘playing with fire,’ said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who took part in Thursday’s talks in Paris with his British and French peers. Blinken had joined together via video conference.
Iran has said it will suspend part of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspections of its nuclear facilities next week if the West does not implement its own commitments under the 2015 treaty. The agreement has been unresolved since Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement.
Blinken reaffirmed ‘if Iran returns to strict adherence to its promises … the United States will do the same,’ according to a joint statement following Thursday’s meeting which highlighted closer positions across the Atlantic Iran since President Joe Biden took office.
The administration is trying to save the 2015 Joint Action Plan (JCPOA).
The diplomats noted the dangerous nature of a decision to restrict IAEA access, and urge Iran to consider the impact of such heavy action, especially at this time of renewed diplomatic opportunity . ‘
They said Iran’s decision to export uranium is enriched up to 20% and uranium metal does not have a ‘reliable’ civilian use.
The 2015 treaty aims to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Tehran denies seeking such an arsenal.
‘We are the ones who have kept this agreement alive for a few years, and now it’s about supporting the United States in paving the way back to the agreement,’ Maas told reporters in Paris.
The steps that have been taken in Tehran and that can be taken in the coming days are anything but useful. They are in danger of the American way back to this agreement. The more pressure it comes under, the more difficult it will be politically difficult to find a solution, ‘he said.
Iran’s threats are ‘very worrying,’ said British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, stressing the need to ‘engage diplomatically to stop Iran, but also bring it back to surrender. ‘
The diplomats also raised concerns about human rights violations in Iran and the ballistic missile program.
In Iran, President Hassan Rouhani expressed hope Thursday that the Biden administration will revert to the agreement and lift U.S. sanctions that Washington re-imposed under Trump, according to television of the state.
Tehran has been using its breaches of the nuclear deal to pressure the remaining signatories – France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China – to give Iran more incentives to balancing challenging sanctions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the president of the European Council spoke to Rouhani this week to try to stop a diplomatic stance. The IAEA leader plans to travel to Iran this weekend to find a solution that will allow the agency to continue investigations.