US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he was "not optimistic" about negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran, after weeks in which negotiations between Tehran and the superpowers were on the verge of reaching agreements and signing a new nuclear deal that would allow the United States to return to talks.
Blinken made the remarks in an interview with the American news network NBC, but declined to elaborate on the status of the talks with the Iranians.
"I would say that I am not very optimistic about the chances of bringing an agreement to the signing stage, despite the efforts we have made, despite the fact that I believe the agreement will improve our security situation. We are simply not there."
Blinken visited Brussels yesterday where he met with NATO leaders and discussed with them the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the progress of negotiations with Iran. Blinken spoke with representatives of France, Germany and Britain, from the powers involved in the negotiations on the nuclear deal in Vienna.
Meanwhile, the Reuters news agency reported that the Iranians transferred all means of production of their advanced hubs from the facility in Karaj, near the capital Tehran, to the underground facility in Natanz.
Both facilities have been attacked in the past with attacks that they attributed to Israeli sabotage.
The International Atomic Energy Agency stated that Iran had set up a similar facility in the city of Isfahan.
This is a move that could put the production of the concentrates out of the control of the Atomic Energy Agency, which gained access to the secret facility in Karaj only in December of last year, after a long hiatus from operating surveillance cameras operated by the agency on the spot.
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