ROME (AP) — The United States and its closest partners are stepping up pressure on Iran to resume stalled nuclear talks, warning it will face further foreign isolation, new economic sanctions and, in all likelihood, military action if it continues its nuclear program.
In a series of high-level diplomatic meetings this week in Washington, U. S. , European, Israeli and Arab officials agreed on the desire to make clear to Iran that its continued resistance to signing the Vienna talks will not be ignored or left unpunished. .
The consensus comes amid developing fears that Tehran is serious about resuming negotiations aimed at bringing Iran and the United States back in line with the historic and languid 2015 nuclear deal from which former President Donald Trump withdrew 3 years later.
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It also comes as the Biden administration, which had made a return to the deal a priority in its first months in office, and others are pessimistic about clients for such negotiations, even if they resume.
Iran on the most sensible schedule of all meetings that brought together high-level diplomats from the European Union, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to officials who participated, adding Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the EU’s foreign policy secretary. leader Josep Borrell, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, and Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed.
The U. S. special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, is proceeding with Iran’s verbal exchange with the Gulf Arab states this weekend, while the head of the United Nations’ atomic watch body, Rafael Grossi, will be in Washington next week for additional talks.
Iran has hinted that it is in a position to resume indirect negotiations with the United States, but has not yet committed to a date. The EU, which has been tasked with organising the talks, has indicated that Iran would possibly not be willing to do so. so soon and he needs to meet Borrell and others in Brussels before returning to Vienna.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, left, speaks with US President Joe Biden ahead of the opening consultation of the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Rome, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021 (Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg). Fake images)
While Iran’s new government, led by radical President Ebrahim Raisi, has been delayed, it has continued to exceed limits on its nuclear activities that had been limited through the deal, adding enriched uranium to higher levels. Activity continues, returning to the 2015 agreement may be unnecessary.
Borrell, whose senior assistant has just returned from a stopover in Tehran to assess the government’s position, said he is willing to meet with the Iranians before the resumption of the Vienna talks, but said enough time had already passed for Raisi and his team. who took place of work in August, to prepare.
“I am in a position to do so if they need to come to Brussels. But time is running out,” Borrell told reporters on Friday. “I see that the new passenger government wants time to examine the file, to instruct the nepasstiador team,” however, this time it has passed a position. It’s time to go back to the nepasstiations. “
Asked about the option of a failure in negotiations and what might follow, anything called ‘Plan B’, Borrell replied: “I don’t need to think about ‘Plan B’. I can’t believe in ‘Plan B’. it would be a smart thing. “
“We are in a very harmful place,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal told reporters at a separate press convention on Friday, noting the acceleration of Iran’s nuclear work. “I think we want a quick resumption of talks (and) suspension. “of those activities through Iran. “
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After meeting with Lapid on Wednesday, Blinken presented a grim assessment of the situation. In a rare acknowledgment through the United States that it is looking for what to do if international relations with Iran fail, he said the window for Iran to resume closing talks. however, he refused to give a date when it would be too late.
“Time is running out,” he said. We are in a position to resort to other characteristics if Iran does not replace the course, and those consultations with our allies and partners are one of them. We will read about all the features to meet the challenge posed through Iran. “
Lapid has been more direct, backing Israel’s warnings that it will act, with army force if necessary, to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
“There are times when nations will have to use force to protect the world from evil,” Lapid said. “If a terrorist regime needs to get a non-transparent weapon, we will have to act. We will have to make it transparent that the global civilized will not allow this bomb. “
A senior Israeli official who participated in the talks told reporters that Lapid’s stopover in Washington, which also included meetings with Vice President Kamala Harris and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, “was a very intimate discussion about what would be done” if Iran refused to have interaction or have interaction seriously.
The official said Israel was pleased that Biden’s leadership hardened its stance and said Israel thought it was “important to give (Iran) the sense of encirclement. “
Malley, the U. S. envoy, said the technique the Biden administration liked remains diplomatic and is under pressure to resume consultations on other options.
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“We will be in a position to adapt to another truth in which we will have to face all the characteristics to deal with Iran’s nuclear program if it is not in a position to return,” he said. “It is quite imaginable that Iran will decide on another path, and we want to coordinate with Israel and other partners in the region.