Iran said Sunday that the main roadblock to the signing of a new nuclear deal with the world powers is the refusal by the United States to lift all sanctions on the Islamic Republic. “We believe that a deal is within reach if the US government gives up its campaign of maximum pressure and the European parties show serious flexibility and political will in the talks,” an unnamed Iranian official told Iranian media, Reuters reported.
The sixth round of restarted talks to reset the Iran nuclear deal came to a halt on Friday. The reason given by the world powers is that Iran had come to the talks with “unrealistic” expectations.
A US official said Saturday that Iran backed away from all its previous compromises on reupping the 2015 nuclear dealas it continues to increase its nuclear capability, AFP reported.
The Iranian negotiators “backtracked from previous agreements and came with a very strong and thuggish approach,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting. Bennett late last week urged the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to pull out of the talks, describing the Iranians as practicing “nuclear blackmail.”
He said he has been discussing the talks and the terms of a nuclear agreement with the US, the United Kingdom, France and Russia. “Our strength is in our unity. A bad deal with the Iranians will have implications for our national security. Therefore, there is a time for everything. A time to keep silent and a time to speak. Now is the time to speak,” Bennett said.