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The rejection came days after President Biden ordered retaliatory measures opposed to Iran-backed militias in Syria.
By Farnaz Fassihi and David E. Sanger
Iran on Sunday rejected an offer to negotiate with the United States at an informal assembly proposed through The Europeans to revive President Donald J’s nuclear deal. Trump, just three years old.
A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said recent actions taken by Washington and the Europeans had led Iran to conclude that “the time has not come” for such talks. His statements came days after President Biden ordered opposing retaliatory measures. Iran-backed militias in eastern Syria, related to recent attacks on the corps of American workers and allies in Iraq.
“There has been no replacement in U. S. positions and actions,” Khatibzadeh said in a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Biden’s administration has not ruled out Trump’s top-pressure policy, nor has it announced its commitments” under the 2015 nuclear deal. through Trump. Trump.
Biden said the United States would return to the agreement if Iran were to resent the commitments it made when it signed it. Iran has demanded that the United States lift all sanctions against it, and has recently taken steps to increase uranium enrichment and restrict foreign inspectors to their nuclear sites.
The impasse led European signatories to the agreement to recommend an informal assembly in which Americans would participate as visitors and both sides would have the opportunity to interact directly.
Privately, U. S. officials expressed confidence that time problems can simply be solved, noting that when the nuclear deal came into effect in early 2016, Iran and the United States embarked on a series of exactly coordinated movements that eliminated the question of who took the first step.
But political sensitivity is high.
Biden is aware that the republican parties to the agreement are due to signs that his new administration is making concessions without receiving anything in return, and Iran has a presidential election in less than 4 months, meaning that no Iranian official should appear to be giving in. to the American will.
So far, Biden has combined the will to re-engage in international relations with a modest reluctance of the army to Iran’s power militias in Iraq and elsewhere.
Gestures of goodwill included abandoning a failed effort by Trump’s leadership to force the reimposition of UN sanctions on that date before the 2015 agreement, who argued that since Iran had resumed production of nuclear tissues to degrees prohibited by the agreement, sanctions will automatically be automatically re-placed in place.
The State Department has also eased restrictions on Iranian diplomats coming to the United Nations and is content with Europe’s invitations to direct talks.
But then biden’s resolve came Thursday to order army movements in several buildings used by the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia and other teams in eastern Syria, near the Iraqi border, in reaction to the February 15 rocket attack in northern Iraq that killed a civilian contractor and wounded a U. S. military and coalition troops.
Biden said the measures were intended to send a message to Iran that it “acts with impunity, be careful. “
The escalation of the army’s tensions coincided with Iran’s over whether it would meet with the Americans, a perception that is as unpopular among Iran’s conservative factions as it is among many Republican leaders in the United States.
A White House spokesman said Sunday that the United States “disappointed” by Iran’s rejection of the talks, but that “we remain in a position to resume meaningful diplomacy,” Reuters said.
Henry Rome, a senior analyst following Iran for Eurasia Group, a political threat consultancy, said Iran’s resolution partly reflected its leaders’ preference to appear resilient to U. S. pressure.
“This is from the end of the negotiations,” he said in an email.
In his Comments on Sunday, Khatibzadeh said Iran would respond in kind to Washington’s tensions and concessions.
Iran, he said, will “return to our commitments” to lift sanctions, but warned that it will “respond to competitive movements accordingly. “
Rome said that stagnation evidently shows how “disorderly” the relaunch of the agreement may be.
“Even if the overall direction of travel is clear,” he said, “Washington and Tehran will zigzag their efforts to influence and manage their own national political considerations. “
Rick Gladstone contributed to the report.
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