The White House sees indirect talks with Iran in Vienna as potentially constructive but is clear-eyed about the diplomacy and doesn’t currently expect direct talks will take place, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday.
White House spokesman Jen Psaki commented Monday evening on talks in Vienna on a comprehensive joint action plan.
“I can’t predict how long it will take for diplomacy (eventually) to lead to talks between Iran and the United States,” she told a White House daily news conference.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Monday he expected the talks to be “difficult” and wasn’t forecasting any breakthroughs, adding that Robert Malley, the U.S. special envoy for Iran, would lead the talks on behalf of the Biden administration.
Earlier in the day, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said it was up to the other powers that are still in the deal to ensure that Washington “corrects” its path and provides the guaranteed and verifiable removal of bruising penalties on Iran’s economy imposed by Trump.
Khatibzadeh said Iran was not interested in a “step by step” approach, reiterating comments made on Sunday by his country’s lead negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who has already arrived in Vienna ahead of the talks.
Iran breached some of the limits on its nuclear program more than a year after Trump abandoned the deal that was championed by his predecessor, Barack Obama. Tehran has since repeatedly rebuffed direct talks with the Biden administration on reviving the pact.
Khatibzadeh said that the “window of opportunity” to break the deadlock with the U.S. over how to salvage the deal won’t close if the talks don’t deliver a breakthrough, but warned it “won’t remain open forever.”
On Friday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted the “aim” of the meeting would be to “rapidly finalise sanction-lifting & nuclear measures for choreographed removal of all sanctions, followed by Iran ceasing remedial measures”.
“No Iran-US meeting. Unnecessary,” he added.
The Vienna talks will also include the governments of Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia which all remain parties and supporters of the nuclear deal negotiated under former US president Barack Obama.
