White House: Talks with Iran have reached an urgent point

(A7) White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that talks with Iran have reached an urgent point.

Speaking to reporters and quoted by Reuters, Psaki warned that it will be impossible to return to the Iran nuclear deal if an agreement is not reached in coming weeks.

“A deal that addresses the core concerns of all sides is in sight but if it’s not reached in the coming weeks, Iran’s ongoing nuclear advances will make it impossible for us to return to the JCPOA,” she stated.

The comments come a day after the talks to revive a deal with Iran on its nuclear program resumed in Vienna.

The negotiations — attended by Britain, China, France, Germany, Iran, Russia and indirectly the United States — were halted at the end of last month for diplomats to return to their capitals to get further instructions.

Tuesday’s resumption came after parties in recent weeks cited progress in seeking to revive the 2015 deal.

Iran has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal it signed with world powers in response to former US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in May of 2018.

However, it has held several rounds of indirect talks with the US on reviving the deal. The talks are being mediated by the remaining five countries that are party to the deal.

Negotiators from the three European countries involved in the negotiations recently said the talks are reaching their final stage and now require political input.

On Monday, a US State Department spokesperson said a deal was possible with Iran on its nuclear program but needs to be completed urgently.

On Sunday, Iran’s top security official said that Washington and Tehran had so far failed to produce “balance” in their commitments during the Vienna talks.

“Despite limited progress in the Vienna Talks, we are still far from achieving the necessary balance in the commitments of the parties,” Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani said in a Twitter post.

“Political decisions in Washington are requirements for balance of commitments to reach a good agreement,” he added.