The US State Department said that the United States is ready to resume negotiations with Iran on the nuclear file, noting that Tehran requested more time until the transfer of power to President-elect Ibrahim Raisi.

The US State Department confirmed that it is still interested in a joint return to commitment to the Iranian nuclear agreement, but this offer will not remain on the table forever, noting that "when Iran finishes the presidential transition, we will then be ready to plan to return to Vienna to continue negotiations."

Reuters quoted an Iranian diplomatic source that Tehran is not ready to resume negotiations before the new president takes office. The source added that Iran conveyed this position to European officials working as mediators in the negotiations, and the source expected that the nuclear negotiations would not resume before mid-August.

For his part, the US envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, said that Tehran must make decisions if it wants to reach a mutual agreement to return to the nuclear agreement, and warned that not reaching an agreement soon would make the negotiations more complicated.

On Monday, the US State Department said Robert Malley was ready to resume talks on the Iran nuclear deal, as soon as the seventh round of negotiations was scheduled.

Psaki expressed her country's concern over Iran's activities in the region (European News Agency)

American concern

Earlier, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Washington is concerned about Iran's activities in the region, but the US interest requires continuing nuclear negotiations, stressing that Washington will defend its forces against attacks by Iranian-backed groups.

In parallel, Politico quoted the head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee as confirming that an agreement with Iran would not take place soon.

In Iran, Mahmoud Vaezi, Director of President Rouhani's office, said that negotiations on issues related to the nuclear file would apparently be handled by the next Iranian government.

He added that there is no difference between Rouhani's government and Raisi's government in this regard, stressing that the agreement will take place after all parties achieve their demands and goals from these negotiations.

He stressed that it was agreed on points related to the sanctions, and that they will be activated only if a full agreement is reached in Vienna.

Raisi is scheduled to take office officially in early August.

Rouhani talked about opportunities to reach an agreement (Al-Jazeera)

Stolen opportunity

For his part, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani expressed his hope that the next government would complete negotiations to revive the nuclear agreement and lift US sanctions, indicating that they may not resume before his successor, Ibrahim Raisi, takes office early next month.

Rouhani said that the current government has fully created the conditions for reviving the nuclear agreement, and that the next government has the opportunity, "and we hope that it will do the remaining work well and reach a result."

He added, "There was an opportunity to lift the sanctions and revive the nuclear agreement last March. Unfortunately, this opportunity was lost despite the efforts of the Iranian government and foreign ministry, and the opportunity was robbed... If that opportunity had not been taken from the current government, things would have changed afterwards."

Since the beginning of April, Iran and the major powers - with the indirect participation of Washington - have been engaged in talks in Vienna, aimed at reviving the 2015 agreement, from which the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 and re-imposed severe economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The parties to the agreement held 6 rounds of talks, the last of which was concluded on June 20, without specifying a date for a new round. The participants in the talks confirmed progress while "serious differences" remained.

The United States and France warned Iran after that round that time was running out to revive the agreement, while Tehran responded by calling on others to make "final decisions."