National security advisor of the United States, Jake Sullivan, stated on Friday that the talks for Iran to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal were ‘not going well,’ providing a harsh assessment as European negotiators warn US that time is running out.
‘It’s not going well in that we don’t yet have a pathway back into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),’ Sullivan said at a Council on Foreign Relations event.
Sullivan stated that the past few days have seen ‘some progress’ at the negotiating table, but Iran has ‘raced’ its nuclear programme since the United States withdrew from the deal in 2018 under then-President Trump.
In exchange for sanctions relief, Iran agreed to dismantle much of its nuclear programme and open its sites to inspections. However, with the withdrawal of the United States, Tehran mainly stopped complying with the conditions of the agreement.
‘Getting that programme back into a box through a return to mutual compliance with the JCPOA has been more challenging than we would have expected to see this year. And we’re still paying the price for the terrible decision to exit the deal in 2018,’ Sullivan added.
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