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Iran says U.S. delaying nuclear deal, U.S. sees progress
CGTN
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani holds a press conference in Tehran, July 13, 2022. /CFP

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani holds a press conference in Tehran, July 13, 2022. /CFP

Iran accused the United States on Monday of procrastinating in efforts to revive Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal – a charge denied by Washington, which said a deal was closer than two weeks ago because of apparent Iranian flexibility.

After 16 months of fitful, indirect American-Iranian talks, with European Union (EU) officials shuttling between the sides, a senior EU official said on August 8 it had laid down a final offer and expected a response within a "very, very few weeks."

Iran last week responded to the EU's text with "additional views and considerations" while calling on the United States to show flexibility to resolve three remaining issues.

Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, said on Monday he hoped the United States would respond positively as early as this week to the bloc's proposal, adding that Iran had given a "reasonable" response. 

"The Americans are procrastinating and there is inaction from the European sides. ... America and Europe need an agreement more than Iran," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, told a news conference.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price denied that, saying that "The notion that we have delayed this negotiation in any way is just not true."

After the EU sent the proposed text to both Tehran and Washington in late July, Iran "responded with several comments," he said, adding that "This is why it has taken us some additional time to review those comments and to determine our response of our own."

"We are seriously reviewing those comments," Price said. "There are still some outstanding issues that must be resolved, some gaps that must be bridged, if we are able to get there," he added.

The United States has called on Tehran to release Iranian-Americans held in Iran on security charges. Iran has demanded that several Iranians detained on charges linked to U.S. sanctions be freed.

Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to curb its nuclear program in return for the removal of sanctions on the country. 

However, then U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the latter to drop some of its commitments under the pact.

The talks on the JCPOA's revival began in April 2021 in Vienna but were suspended in March this year because of political differences between Tehran and Washington.

(With input from agencies)

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