U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Tuesday that the United States remains convinced that reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran is the "best way" to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.
Blinken stated before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "We still believe that returning to the agreement would be the best way to respond to the nuclear challenges posed by Iran and to ensure that Iran, which is already acting aggressively, does not have a nuclear weapon."
More than a year ago, Iran and the parties involved in the 2015 agreement (France, Britain, Germany, Russia, and China) began talks in Vienna, in which the United States participated indirectly after unilaterally withdrawing from the agreement in 2018 under former President Donald Trump.
The negotiations, coordinated by the European Union, aim to bring Washington back into the agreement and lift sanctions imposed on Tehran after the U.S. withdrawal, in exchange for Iran resuming its commitments that it had scaled back following the U.S. move.
Blinken added, "We tried the alternative proposal, which was to withdraw from the agreement and try to exert more pressure on them, and we saw the result," which is "a more dangerous nuclear program."
The U.S. Secretary indicated that the time Iran needs to produce enough fissile material to create a nuclear weapon has reduced to "a few weeks" following the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement, whereas the period previously exceeded a year.
He continued, stating that "despite the shortcomings" of an agreement that does not address "other bad activities" of Iran, such as its intervention in conflicts in the Middle East, "if we can return to our own terms [...] that would be the best response to the nuclear issue."
Those involved in the negotiations confirm that points of contention between Iran and the United States remain, notably Tehran's request to remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from Washington's list of "foreign terrorist organizations" following Trump's decision to withdraw from the agreement.
While Washington has not announced a final position on whether to remove the Guard, President Joe Biden, who is eager to return the U.S. to the agreement provided Iran fully complies with its commitments, appears more inclined to keep the Guard on the list.
