The United States will not remain "
with folded arms
" if Iran does not negotiate in good faith to save the agreement on its nuclear program and continue to develop it, warned American envoy Rob Malley before the resumption of talks scheduled for Monday in Vienna. "
If they decide not to go back to the deal, obviously we're going to have to consider other means - diplomatic and otherwise - to try to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions
," he said. in an interview to be broadcast on Friday by US public radio NPR, excerpts of which were published on Wednesday. “
The options available to America are, you know, well known to all,
” he added, again raising the threat of military action.
Read also Paris asks Tehran to resume negotiations for a "rapid return" to the nuclear deal
The United States left in 2018, under the presidency of Donald Trump, the agreement concluded three years earlier by Iran with the great powers to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
They reinstated and tightened their sanctions and the Islamic Republic began, in response, to increasingly free itself from restrictions on its atomic program.
Current US President Joe Biden says he wants to return to the 2015 agreement if Iran also returns to its commitments.
Indirect negotiations started in April in Vienna but have been at a standstill since the election in June of a new ultra-conservative Iranian president.
They are due to resume Monday in the Austrian capital.
Read alsoWashington ready for "all options" if Tehran does not return to the nuclear deal
"
If they drag their feet at the negotiating table, while picking up the pace with their nuclear program, that will be their answer to the question of whether they really want to return to the agreement,
" said Rob Malley in this report. interview recorded Tuesday. "
So, of course, we would not be ready to sit idly by,
" he warned. The envoy, a staunch supporter of the 2015 deal he helped negotiate, said Iranian actions in recent months "did
not bode well for negotiations
." "
They continued to develop their nuclear program
" without "
coming back to the negotiating table
" for five months, while multiplying "
very radical positions about their demands,
”he stressed.
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