“This is not a time to give up, there is progress,” Biden said at a news conference marking the first anniversary of his assumption of power, which is taking place Thursday.
Joe Biden added that there is “unity” between the United States and the rest of the powers negotiating with Iran, namely Russia, China, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
Iran is negotiating in Vienna with the five countries, and indirectly with the United States, to salvage the 2015 agreement that curbed Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of US sanctions.
In 2018, Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew the United States from the agreement and imposed new sanctions on Tehran, which responded the following year by breaching restrictions on its nuclear program by stockpiling more uranium than agreed.
The goal of the ongoing negotiations is for the United States to return to the agreement and Iran to fully comply with it again, which is why it wants sanctions lifted.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell was optimistic last Friday that talks could take place in Vienna “within weeks”, given the pessimism with which he wrapped up 2021.
But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzad on Monday asked the United States to expedite a decision on a possible lifting of sanctions and warned that Washington would not like the “Plan B” issue because negotiations were failing.
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