US denounces Iranian regime’s maneuvers to delay nuclear deal negotiations

President Joe Biden’s administration has attacked Iran for accusing the United States of delaying a prisoner swap to force a swift resumption of indirect nuclear talks.

State Department calls statements by Iranian deputy foreign minister “scandalous” that the United States and Britain were holding the exchange “hostage” to the negotiations to save the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

In a few tweets on his verified account, Persian diplomat Seyyed Abbas Araghchi said nuclear talks in Vienna could not resume until Iran’s hard-line president-elect takes office in early August. “We are in a period of transition because the democratic transfer of power in our capital is underway,” he added.

Araghi added that the nuclear talks “obviously have to wait for our new government. This is what any democracy demands ”. He noted that the United States and Britain “must understand this and stop linking a humanitarian exchange – ready to take place – with the JCPOA. “Nothing is being accomplished by holding this exchange hostage to political goals,” said Aragchi, Iran’s main chief negotiator at the Vienna talks. “TEN PRISONERS of all stripes could be released TOMORROW if the US and UK fill their end of the bargain.”

In response to Aragchi’s remarks, State Department spokesman Ned Price categorically rejected the claim, He denied that there had been a concrete deal on the exchange, noting that the United States was willing to continue talks on the prisoners pending the resumption of nuclear negotiations.

“These comments are an outrageous effort to deflect the blame for the current stalemate in an eventual mutual return to JCPOA compliance, ”said Price. “We are ready to return to Vienna to complete the work on the mutual return to the JCPOA once Iran makes the necessary decisions.”

A sixth round of nuclear talks ended last month without a deal ahead of the Iranian presidential election won by Ebrahim Raisi.

The United States has repeatedly stated that it is ready for a seventh round as soon as Iran is ready, while demanding the immediate release of American citizens detained in Iran.

Winner of the presidential elections in June, the ultra-conservative Ibrahim Raisi, is to be sworn in before parliament on August 5 to succeed the moderate Hasan Rouhani, whose election in 2013 made it possible to reach an agreement with the international community two years later after twelve years of crisis on the Iranian nuclear issue.

This pact, concluded in Vienna, offers Tehran an easing of Western and UN sanctions in exchange for its commitment not to acquire nuclear weapons and a drastic reduction of its nuclear program, subject to inspections by the International Security Agency. atomic energy (IAEA).

(With information from the AP and AFP)

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