Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that if the nuclear agreement is reached, it must be accompanied by the closure of all outstanding issues, including stopping the investigations of the International Atomic Energy Agency, while a US official said that the negotiations reached a dead end.
Yesterday, Thursday, Raisi said at a press conference on the sidelines of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly that Tehran does not see any point in saving the 2015 nuclear agreement without guarantees that the United States will not withdraw from it again, and that international inspectors close investigations into Tehran's nuclear program.
In addition to seeking safeguards, Tehran wants the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency to drop its years-long investigation of uranium traces found at three undeclared sites in Iran.
The Coordinator of External Communications at the US National Security Council, John Kirby, reiterated his country's determination to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
He said the nuclear negotiations are in a deadlock.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Kirby said that the US administration is far from returning to the nuclear agreement with Iran.
Reuters also quoted a senior US State Department official that efforts to revive the Iranian nuclear deal had reached a dead end due to Iran's insistence on closing the International Atomic Energy Agency's investigations into its atomic activities.
The US official said that nothing happened this week to indicate that Iran was willing to change its position.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said on Wednesday that he hoped to talk to Iranian officials about the investigation, but insisted it would not simply be closed.
Western diplomats said they would not back down on the issue, and that Iran had to make the right decision.
Former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018, saying that Tehran had not done enough to limit its nuclear activities, its ballistic missile program and its regional influence, and re-imposed sanctions that crippled Iran's economy.
In response, Tehran abandoned its commitments in the deal by rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, increasing its purity and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up production.
After months of indirect talks in Vienna, Iran and the United States appeared close to reviving the agreement last March, but negotiations collapsed due to obstacles such as Iran's demand that the United States provide guarantees not to withdraw from the agreement again and guarantees from the Atomic Energy Agency. .
President Joe Biden cannot offer such guarantees because the agreement is a political understanding rather than a legally binding treaty.