Iran nuclear talks on pause; US puts blame on Iran
Diplomats negotiating in Vienna to revive a 2015 deal that curbed the Iranian nuclear program have paused talks until next week, with officials from the United States and Europe criticizing Iran for a lack of progress.
"What we've seen in the last couple of days is that Iran right now does not seem to be serious about doing what's necessary to return to compliance, which is why we ended this round of talks in Vienna," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed Friday, addressing a virtual conference of world leaders organized by the Reuters news agency.
"If the path to a return to compliance with the agreement turns out to be a dead end, we will pursue other options,"he added, without giving further details.
A U.S. State Department spokesman said Friday on background that earlier rounds of negotiations with Iran "made progress, finding creative compromise solutions too many of the hardest issues that were difficult for all sides." But, he said, "Iran's approach this week was not, unfortunately, to try to resolve the remaining issues."
European officials also expressed frustration toward Iran over the talks, which began Monday.
A statement Friday from senior officials from France, Britain and Germany — the three European powers acting as mediators in the nuclear talks — said, "This week, [Iran] has backtracked on diplomatic progress made."
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