US says ready to conclude, implement JCPOA if irrelevant issues dropped

Ned Price announced on Tuesday the US awaits a constructive response from Iran on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal that excludes “extraneous” issues, a possible reference to Tehran’s demand that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) be dropped from “terrorism list”.

“We await a constructive response from the Iranians, a response that leaves behind issues that are extraneous to the JCPOA,” the spokesperson said, referring to the deal formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Speaking at a briefing, Price was responding to questions about the Iranian foreign minister’s statement that Tehran had put forward a new proposal on reviving the agreement, which the US spokesperson did not address in detail.

“As we and our European partners have made clear, we are prepared to immediately conclude and implement the deal we negotiated in Vienna, the deal that has been on the table for a number of months now for a mutual return to full compliance with the JCPOA. But for that to happen, Tehran needs to decide to drop demands that go beyond the scope of the JCPOA, needs to decide to drop issues that are extraneous to the JCPOA,” the spokesman stated.

“We believe that if Iran makes this political decision, we’ll be in a position to conclude and to pursue a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA very swiftly. If Iran does not do that, it will further imperil the odds that we will ever be able to reach a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA,” he continued.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has stated Tehran has proposed what he called a new political package to resolve differences during the Vienna talks.

Amirabdollahian added that the US insisted on the approval of the recent resolution against Tehran at the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) with the aim of exerting pressure on Iran and extracting concessions from the country. He described the resolution as hollow.

The top diplomat also noted Iran intensified its nuclear activities while notifying the IAEA of its move before the approval of the resolution at the Board of Governors.

He noted that despite this, Iran will not shy away from talks and it’s exchanging messages with the other side through EU Foreign Policy Chief Josef Borrell and his deputy Enrique Mora.

Iranian officials have stressed the ball is in the US’s court and that Washington must make the necessary political decisions.

Iran insists that the nuclear talks must lead to the removal of all American sanctions that were imposed against Tehran following Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the landmark agreement in May 2018. Tehran has also demanded credible guarantees that Washington will not abandon the deal again.