Iranian nuclear problem should be put back in the box it was in: Secretary of State

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The United States secretary of state said Iran’s nuclear program is accelerating and should be put back into the box created by the 2015 nuclear seal.

“We have the problem that its nuclear program, now that it is not abiding by the constraints of the JCPOA, is literally galloping forward,” Antony Blinken told the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Tuesday, using the full name of the nuclear accord, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. 

“We are determined to that but we need to put this nuclear problem back in the box that it was in and move on from there,” said Blinken.

Blinken said, “the magnitude of their enrichment - enriching more at higher levels is putting it in a position where the breakout time is inextricably getting down from a year to months to eventually weeks. And that is a problem for us.” 

Negotiations between the remaining signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal – Iran, Russia, China, UK, France and Germany – began in early April in Vienna to find a route for the United States to rejoin the accord, lifting sanctions and for Iran to return to full compliance with its nuclear obligations. The fifth and latest round of talks ended on June 2.

Former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the landmark nuclear accord known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018 and began a “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions in a bid to force Tehran to make a new deal that would also address its ballistic missile program and regional activities.

Under the sanctions, Iran has steadily walked back on its nuclear commitments and is now enriching uranium at 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent limit set in the agreement.

Iran has said it would return to its commitments under the deal, but only in exchange for a full lift on US sanctions.

However earlier on Tuesday, Blinken said in a senate hearing that sanctions would remain even in the case of full compliance.

"I would anticipate that, even in the event of a return to compliance with the JCPOA, hundreds of sanctions remain in place, including sanctions imposed by the Trump administration,” AFP reported Blinken saying.

In an article released on Tuesday in Iran’s semi-official news outlet Tasnim News, it said, “Iran has repeatedly stated that it is quite serious in the negotiations to revive the JCPOA, but will only return to fulfilling its nuclear obligations under the JCPOA if all US sanctions - even those that Washington claims do not conflict with the JCPOA - have been lifted.” 

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said in a tweet on Monday, “It remains unclear whether the president of the United States and secretary of state Blinken are ready to bury the failed ‘maximum pressure’ policy of Trump and [former secretary of state] Pompeo, and cease using economic terrorism as bargaining ‘leverage.’”

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said last week that the main issues with the United States over reviving the nuclear deal have been resolved and sanctions could be lifted in his last months in office if there is the "will" in Iran.

This comes just a little over a week after the spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said in late May that "significant progress" has been made in talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal in Vienna, acknowledging that some “key issues remain” and the process should not be rushed.