The US stated on Wednesday that restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement is “not our goal right now,” citing Tehran’s lack of interest in doing so and Washington’s emphasis on how to help Iranian demonstrators.
Ned Price, a spokesman for the US State Department, said, “That’s not our focus right now,” when asked whether the US was interested in continuing discussions to resurrect the agreement under which Iran limited its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
“Iran has made it obvious that they are not willing to make this agreement, and it is very evident that they are not willing to make this deal. Price told a briefing that the agreement “definitely does not look near.”
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Nothing we’ve heard over the last several weeks shows they’ve altered their stance. So, he said, “right now, our attention is on the extraordinary bravery and heroism that the Iranian people are displaying via nonviolent protests.
The murder of Mahsa Amini, 22, on September 16 while in the care of Iran’s morality police sparked anti-government rallies. “Our emphasis right now is on throwing a spotlight on what they’re doing and helping them in the ways we can,” he added.
The nuclear agreement between Iran and six major nations was abandoned in 2018 by then-U.S. President Donald Trump, who also unilaterally reinstituted economic sanctions that have hampered Iran’s economy by limiting its oil exports.
A year later, Tehran responded by progressively breaking the terms of the nuclear agreement, reigniting concerns in the United States, Israel, and Gulf Arab countries that Iran may be attempting to develop an atomic bomb, a goal it vehemently rejects.