(PatriotWise.com)- On Monday, Iran accused the United States of stalling in indirect negotiations aimed at restoring Tehran’s 2015 nuclear agreement and asserted that a prisoner swap with Washington was unrelated to the talks.
Reports show that after 16 months of sporadic, indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran, during which time European Union representatives shuttled back and forth, a senior EU official announced on August 8 that the EU had made a final offer and anticipated hearing back in a few weeks.
Iran provided new perspectives and considerations in response to the EU’s text last week and urged Washington to be flexible in order to settle the three outstanding issues.
Josep Borrell, the head of the foreign strategy for the EU, expressed optimism that the United States would accept the bloc’s plan as early as this week. He claimed that Tehran had responded to it reasonably.
According to reports, Nasser Kanaani, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, stated that Tehran desired a lasting agreement that would protect Tehran’s legal rights.
At a press conference, Kanaani stated that America and Europe need an agreement more than Iran due to the American and European sides’ delay and procrastination, respectively.
The US has frequently urged Tehran to free many Iranian-Americans who are being jailed on security-related allegations. Iran has sought the release of many Iranians arrested for violating American sanctions.
Kanaani claimed Tehran is prepared to exchange inmates, adding that Tehran insists that the exchange of prisoners with Washington is a different issue and it has nothing to do with the process of negotiations to resurrect the 2015 accord.
Reports show former President Donald Trump terminated the agreement in 2018 because he believed it was too lenient toward Iran and reinstituted strict U.S. sanctions. It led Tehran to step up flouting the agreement’s nuclear restrictions.
After 11 months of back-and-forth negotiations between Tehran and the administration of President Joe Biden in Vienna, the 2015 agreement seemed to be on the approach of rebirth in March.
However, issues like Tehran’s demand that Washington provides guarantees that no U.S. president will renege on the deal as Trump did, causing negotiations to break down. However, Biden cannot make such unwavering guarantees because the agreement is a political understanding rather than a legally binding treaty.
