US Official Says Iran Nuclear Talks In 'Final Stretch'

Nuclear talks between the United States and Iran are in their “final stretch”, with both sides having to make tough decisions, a senior US official said Monday.

The latest talks in Vienna were "among the most intensive that we had to date" on returning to the 2015 deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which former President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, a State Department official said, according to Reuters.

Iran has refused to hold direct talks with the United States, which is present on the sidelines of negotiations between Iran and other world powers in Vienna.

"We made progress narrowing down the list of differences to just the key priorities on all sides. And that's why now is the time for political decisions," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to brief reporters.

US President Joe Biden came into office a year ago promising to re-enter the deal, but Iran has continued work on its nuclear program and a deal has remained elusive.

While Iran suspended negotiation for five months in 2021, it continued uranium enrichment to up to 60-percent purity, closing the time gap to accumulate enough fissile material for a bomb. In the meantime, it increased oil exportsas the Biden Administration enforced US sanctions less vigorously.

The official said Washington has already laid out what it was prepared to do in terms of lifting sanctions that are inconsistent with the nuclear deal and that the ball was more in Tehran's court.

"Now is the time... for Iran to decide, whether it is prepared to make those decisions necessary for a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA."

"We are in the final stretch," the official added. "Given the pace of Iran's advances, its nuclear advances, we only have a handful of weeks left to get a deal."

In the event of no deal with Iran, the official said Washington would have to step up pressure - "economic, diplomatic and otherwise" - in the face of Tehran's unconstrained nuclear program.

Washington and its European have been warning Tehran for months to speed up talks and threatened to resort to other means if agreement could not be reached, but they did not give Iran a clear deadline.

The official repeated Washington's willingness to engage with Iran through direct talks, saying it would be very much in the interest of the process given the limited time frame but added that there was no sign that they were close to doing that.

"We have not met directly yet. We have no indication that's going to be the case when we reconvene," the official said.

Iran has said it will meet with the US if it sees a clear indication that a final agreement is within reach.

Critics have saidthat the Biden Administration has not responded to Iranian provocations in the past one year and is too eager to reach an agreement rather than keep the pressure of sanctions that have put Iran in a difficult economic situation.

Israel has said it will not be restricted by any agreement that falls short of blocking all pathways to nuclear weapons for Iran, and it will reserve the right to take action.

With reporting by Reuters