Iran FM Questions US Willingness to Finalize Nuclear Deal

Criticizes recent US inaction on talks

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian was deeply critical of the US approach to the Vienna talks in comments Sunday, saying that Iran remains interested in finalizing the nuclear deal, but that the US appears to lack the will to do so.

Earlier in May, the US declared the deal all but dead, contented to not have any more talks or finalize what by indications is a nearly finished negotiation. The big stumbling block was that the Biden Administration didn’t want to face the political backlash of a deal removing the Revolutionary Guards from the terror blacklist.

The EU and Iran got the talks back going, but the US is still not making any obvious efforts to make good on a deal they insisted that they wanted and which seems readily available.

Iranian officials want to present themselves as ready and willing to make a deal, but US disinterest in the deal seems to be limiting coverage of Iran’s readiness, and making it simpler for the US to pretend talks aren’t ongoing.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.