Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that delaying the return to the nuclear agreement would not be in the interest of the "5 + 1" signatories to the agreement, while Washington confirmed its tactical alignment with Beijing to contain Tehran's nuclear program.
On Thursday, Rouhani reiterated Iran's readiness to implement its nuclear obligations if Washington lifted sanctions, accusing the new US administration of delaying the return to the agreement.
In the same context, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the sanctions - which it described as unilateral and illegal - should be lifted as soon as possible, in order to ensure that the comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear file returns to its track.
On the other hand, State Department spokesman Ned Price confirmed that the sanctions imposed on Iran will remain in effect and will not be lifted except as part of a diplomatic track.
Price affirmed in a press conference yesterday, Wednesday, that his country is ready for what he called a meaningful dialogue with Iran to ensure a mutual return of commitment to the nuclear agreement.
Washington stressed its common interests with China in the Iranian nuclear file, as it refrained from publicly denouncing the "25-year strategic cooperation agreement" concluded by Beijing and Tehran last Saturday.
And a number of hawks of American conservatives saw in this agreement evidence of the emergence of a new axis against Washington.
Price said only to reporters, "We will not comment on specific bilateral discussions," in a situation in which it appeared that President Joe Biden's administration intends not to pour oil on the fire in this file.
"We will deal with any attempt to circumvent these sanctions," he added, without referring to the Iran-China agreement specifically.
Cooperation with China
"As you know, competition is what defines our relationship with China, but we have in some cases narrow areas of tactical alignment," Price said, noting that Iran is one of them, and China has demonstrated its cooperation in efforts to contain the Iranian nuclear program, according to Price.
The US spokesman affirmed that "Beijing has absolutely no interest in seeing Iran produce a nuclear weapon, despite the highly destabilizing effect that this may have on a region on which China depends."
China is one of the six major countries that signed the nuclear deal with Iran in 2015 in Vienna, along with the United States, Russia, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Washington's proposal that the American media talked about regarding the nuclear deal is unacceptable, and that America must fulfill all its obligations.
Zarif stressed that the best way to activate the nuclear agreement is for Washington to return to it, and to implement all its commitments.
He also stressed that Tehran does not oppose temporary measures to implement the nuclear agreement, but believes that they are not useful.
And US media quoted officials as saying that the Biden administration had informed Iran that it was ready to take first steps on a mutual basis, or that the two sides would return to full compliance with the terms of the nuclear agreement.