The Washington Post (Washington Post) quoted US officials as saying that the US response to the draft nuclear agreement with Iran is expected today, Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the European Union submitted a "final" settlement proposal, calling on Tehran and Washington - who are negotiating indirectly - to respond to it, hoping to culminate in talks that began a year and a half ago.
The Washington Post reported that after Washington's response, there will likely be a need to return to Vienna for another round of negotiations to finalize the details of a potential agreement.
For his part, John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator at the US National Security Council, said that the agreement with Iran would re-establish a stricter inspection regime that would prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and would enable the deployment of inspectors in the field to see what the Iranians were doing.
Kirby added in an interview with the American network "Fox" that the United States understands Israel's concerns, but President Joe Biden believes that any problem in the Middle East will be difficult to solve in the presence of a nuclear-armed Iran.
He pointed out that Washington wants Iran to return to this deal in order to eliminate the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, pointing out that diplomacy is the best way to move forward to achieve this result.
And US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the United States is working as quickly as possible to provide an appropriate response to Iran's proposals on the nuclear deal.
After Iranian accusations of the United States stalling in the nuclear negotiations, Price added that the nuclear agreement is now closer than it was two weeks ago, stressing that there are outstanding issues.
Reuters quoted a US official as saying that gaps still existed between Tehran and Washington, and that it was not clear whether an agreement would be reached to return to the nuclear deal.
The US official told Reuters that Iran had abandoned key conditions to revive the nuclear deal, including ending investigations by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
European optimism
For his part, European Union foreign and security policy chief Josep Borrell said that most of the countries involved in the nuclear negotiations agreed with the European Union's proposal, stressing that it was possible to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran this week.
Borrell added, in a statement to Spanish radio station TVE, that he had not yet received the American response to the European proposal, but indicated that he was looking forward to it this week.
Borrell had stated that the Iranian response to the European proposal was reasonable.
Diplomats from Iran, the United States and 5 countries (China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany) have been negotiating for months in Vienna on a deal to restore Tehran's commitment to restrictions on its nuclear program, in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
In May 2018, former US President Donald Trump reinstated sanctions on Tehran after announcing his withdrawal from the nuclear agreement concluded under his predecessor Barack Obama.
Iranian terms
For his part, adviser to the Iranian negotiating delegation in Vienna, Mohammad Marandi, said that Iran's nuclear program will not be dismantled and no deal will be implemented before the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of directors closes the file of what he described as false accusations once and for all.
He added in his tweet that removing the Revolutionary Guards from the list of terrorist organizations was not a prerequisite for completing the nuclear agreement.
In turn, the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, expressed his hope that the Director of the Atomic Energy Agency would ignore what he described as the Israeli noise regarding the Iranian nuclear program.
Eslami added that it is useless to use what he described as the alleged nuclear sites paper as a tool of political pressure against Iran.
Regarding the documents submitted by the agency about what he called the alleged websites, Islami said that these documents are an Israeli fabrication, and they have been answered several times.
Eslami stated that Iran would not accept that Israel's pressures and accusations were part of the agenda of the IAEA director.
He pointed out that all nuclear activities come within the framework of the comprehensive safeguards agreement with the IAEA, and that these activities are subject to close supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency, as he put it.
On the other hand, the Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, revealed that the agency will not end the nuclear investigations in Iran.
Grossi added in an interview with "CNN" (CNN) that the key to the issue lies in Iran's cooperation with the agency.
Israeli objection
In a parallel context, Israeli National Security Adviser Eyal Holata will meet in Washington today, Wednesday, with his American counterpart, Jake Sullivan, to discuss the issue of the nuclear agreement.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation also said that Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz will travel to Washington and meet with the US National Security Adviser.
Gantz stressed that Israel is not part of the upcoming nuclear agreement between Iran and Western powers, and stressed that his country would maintain freedom of action against Tehran whenever necessary.
He explained that Israel is in constant contact with its American partners and with other countries that Iran poses a threat to, according to the Israeli official.