The United States will not be left in the lurch if Iran does not negotiate in good faith to salvage its nuclear program and continue to develop it, US envoy Rob Maley has warned ahead of a resumption of planned talks. on Monday in Vienna.
“If they decide not to return to the agreement, we will obviously have to look at other ways – diplomatic and otherwise – to try to address Iran’s nuclear ambitions,” he said in an interview with NPR on Friday. , excerpts of which were broadcast today.
“America’s choices are, you know, known to all,” he added, reiterating the threat of military action.
The United States abandoned in 2018, during the presidency of Donald Trump, the agreement reached three years earlier by Iran with the major powers in order to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Washington has reinstated and toughened its sanctions, and the Islamic Republic, in response, has begun to release more and more of the restrictions imposed on its nuclear program under the agreement.
Incumbent President Joe Biden says his country wants to return to the 2015 deal, even if Iran returns to its commitments. Indirect talks began in Vienna in April but were suspended following the election in June of a new super-conservative president in Iran. The talks are expected to resume on Monday in Vienna.
“If they are late at the negotiating table, while accelerating the pace of their nuclear program, that will be their answer to the question of whether they really want to return to the deal,” Rob Maley said in an interview recorded on Tuesday. “Therefore, we will certainly not be willing to stand idly by,” he warned.
The US envoy, an ardent supporter of the 2015 deal that contributed to the negotiations, said Iranian actions in recent months “are not a good omen for the negotiations”.
“They continued to develop their nuclear program”, without “returning to the negotiating table” for five months, while multiplying more and more “very radical positions on the issue of their demands,” he stressed.
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