White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to comment on reports of “positive” negotiations between European Union officials and Iran about the country’s nuclear weapons program.
“Some EU officials have said the talks are positive,” Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs posed to Psaki aboard Air Force One Tuesday. “Does the U.S. believe that in these indirect negotiations that Iran is being serious?”
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“It’s hard for us to assess that, so I’m not going to do that from here,” Psaki responded flatly. “There are a lot of us and a lot of reports out there being negotiated, you know, being reported, but we’re not going to negotiate in public.”
“Our focus continues to be a mutual return to full compliance with JCPOA. That’s our best available option,” she continued. “We’re committed to a diplomatic path. That’s what Rob Malley and others are working toward, but we just can’t get ahead of where the process stands at this point in time.”
Though negotiations resumed on Monday in Vienna, experts say Iran has significantly increased its capacity to enrich uranium in recent years, and experts say the nation is seeking to drive a rift between the United States and its allies on the subject.
“One of Iran’s overarching strategies is always to divide Western powers by creating uncertainty and doubt as to Iran’s true intentions,” Blaise Misztal, the Jewish Institute for National Security of America’s vice president for policy, previously told the Washington Examiner. “What it doesn’t want is the U.S. and European countries, and Russia and China, agreeing that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon or that Iran is unwilling to compromise and ganging up on it and passing more sanctions at the U.N.”
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You can listen to Psaki’s entire gaggle below.
