Today, Thursday, the Axios news website quoted a US official as saying that Washington and Tehran are likely to exchange more written responses before signing an agreement on Iran's nuclear program.
The US official said Washington had told the Iranians that it was their responsibility to resolve the issue of the International Atomic Energy Agency's investigations into alleged nuclear activities at some sites.
He added that the administration of President Joe Biden made it clear to the Iranians that it could not restrain the next president on the nuclear deal.
The United States and Iran have responded to the draft agreement presented by the European Union, and both sides say there are still some outstanding issues to be resolved.
Tehran is demanding Washington guarantees that it will not withdraw from any new agreement after the withdrawal of former US President Donald Trump in 2018 from the agreement concluded between Iran and major powers in 2015.
It also calls on Tehran to close the investigations carried out by the International Atomic Energy Agency on supposed nuclear activities in some Iranian sites.
An Iranian official told Reuters that closing the IAEA's investigations is a "red line for Supreme Leader" Ali Khamenei, and Iran accuses the agency of bias against it.
optimistic statements
Meanwhile, European Union Foreign Policy Commissioner Josep Borrell confirmed that he had received responses from Iran and the United States to the text proposed by the European Union to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.
Borrell considered that the responses he received are logical, and that there is a common ground for signing a new nuclear agreement with Iran within days.
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed today his hope to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran in the coming days.
In Washington, the coordinator of strategic communications at the US National Security Council, John Kirby, said that there are still what he described as some gaps that Washington is working in good faith to fill.
On the other hand, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said today that his country has shown its goodwill and seriousness in order to reach a strong agreement.
Abdullahian added that Tehran is examining the text of the proposed agreement and preparing a response to it.
In this context, the Iranian Ibrahim Raisi said that no one in the world can impose his will on his country.
Raisi added that Washington officially recognized that the maximum pressure on Iran had failed resoundingly and that it had not achieved any results, as he put it.