US responds to Iran nuclear deal
The US State Department announced that they were responding to Iran’s views regarding the draft text of the nuclear deal with Iran. US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement, “We received Iran’s views on the draft text of the European Union (EU) through the EU. Our reviews on this matter concluded today and we have sent a response to the EU.” Price did not share any details about the content of the US response. Nuclear deal and negotiation process with Iran An agreement was signed between Iran and the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)—the US, Russia, China, the UK, France, and Germany (5+1) in 2015 under which Tehran’s nuclear activities were regulated and monitored in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. When Washington unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 during the presidency of former President Donald Trump and re-imposed sanctions on Iran, Tehran gradually halted its commitments under the deal and took a series of steps including re-enriching high-level uranium. The negotiations held in Vienna since April 2021 under the coordination of the European Union (EU) to ensure the re-implementation of the agreement and the return of the US to the agreement concluded on August 8, and following the draft agreement text presented by the EU, which assumed the role of the negotiations’ coordination, the parties gave much more positive signals compared to previous months regarding reaching a final agreement. The Iranian Foreign Ministry conveyed its views on the draft agreement presented by the EU and accepted as the final roadmap in the nuclear negotiations to the EU on August 15, and announced that they were waiting for a response from the US in response to their response to the draft text. Describing Iran’s response as “reasonable,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Borrell said in a statement on the subject today that a nuclear agreement could be reached with Iran this weekend if a positive response was received from the US.