The White House said it was “not going to give a timeline for when” diplomacy “would end” as Washington and world powers convene with Iran in Vienna for talks aimed at salvaging the 2015 nuclear deal.
“Unquestionably, our best approach here is through diplomacy. That is the preferable approach, so I’m not going to give a timeline for when that would end,” press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Monday. “That is what we were going to continue to press for.”
The parties to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action reconvened in Vienna on Monday to parse a mutual return to the deal by Washington and Tehran. But in the nearly six months since the group last met, obstacles have emerged.
Iran elected a new president earlier this year, hard-line cleric Ebrahim Raisi, and dispatched new negotiators to Vienna. Tehran said Friday that it had further advanced its nuclear enrichment program as it presses for sanctions relief from the United States. Meanwhile, Washington has said it is exploring a “Plan B,” with support from Israel if negotiations fail.
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Iran, which has sent a 40-person delegation to the Austrian capital of mostly economic officials, according to a report from the Khorasan newspaper, will not speak directly to the U.S. On Monday, European Union diplomat Enrique Mora said progress had been made, telling reporters that the Iranian team had agreed to discuss its nuclear work on Wednesday after discussing sanctions on Tuesday.
In an interview with NPR that aired on Friday, U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley said signs from Iran “are not particularly encouraging.”
Earlier this month, Malley, Washington’s lead negotiator, said in a tweet that Iran could choose one of two paths: “continued nuclear escalation & crisis, or mutual return to the JCPOA, creating opportunities for regional economic & diplomatic ties.”
“Time to choose is short,” Malley wrote.
The U.S. has said it is “prepared to use other options” if diplomacy fails.
“We are still hopeful that diplomacy can find a way,” Brett McGurk, the National Security Council’s coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, said during an International Institute for Strategic Studies conference this month. “But if it cannot find a way, we are prepared to use other options.”
He added, “When it comes to military force to prevent a country from obtaining a nuclear weapon, that is a very achievable objective.”
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Psaki stressed on Monday that Washington’s interest remains a mutual return to a full compliance deal. Iran has previously dismissed smaller less-for-less proposals and resisted a “longer and stronger” option that some in Washington have urged.
“This is the best available option to restrict Iran’s nuclear program and provide a platform to address Iran’s destabilizing conduct,” Psaki said of the current position. “We’re working with our European partners in lockstep, and, of course, we are going to continue to press toward a diplomatic approach.”
