This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The United States and European Union said on August 16 that they were examining Iran’s response to a “final” draft text to revive a nuclear deal with world powers after Tehran said it submitted its views to the EU’s coordinator for the talks a day earlier.
Washington said it had already given its response privately to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
“Everybody is studying the response, and this is not the time for the moment to speculate on timing,” Borrell’s spokeswoman Nabila Massrali told journalists.
A State Department spokesperson said the United States had “received Iran’s comments through the EU and are studying them,” adding, “We are sharing our views with the EU.”
Global oil prices were already said to be easing on August 16 in anticipation of a possible deal to break through a two-year impasse since U.S. President Joe Biden took office vowing to bring the battered deal back to life.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump exited the multiparty deal in 2018 and unilaterally reimposed crushing sanctions on Iran’s economy.
The Iranian side had gradually departed from full compliance since Washington’s pullout.
Official and semiofficial news agencies in Iran suggested that a deal was likely but echoed Tehran’s previous push for unspecified concessions from the United States.
The IRNA news agency said “an agreement will be concluded if the United States reacts with realism and flexibility” to the Iranian response.
The ISNA news agency said on August 16 that Tehran expected a response from “the other side” within two days.
No details of Iran’s response to the EU text have been made publicly available, but IRNA previously suggested that differences remained.
“The differences are on three issues, in which the United States has expressed its verbal flexibility in two cases, but it should be included in the text,” IRNA reported. “The third issue is related to guaranteeing the continuation of [the deal], which depends on the realism of the United States.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had previous cited “two demands” made by Tehran.
The main countries negotiating with Iran have been waiting for Tehran’s response to the final draft, which was submitted by Borrell last week.
Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia resumed talks with Iran on the accord earlier in August after a months-long hiatus. The United States has been participating indirectly.