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US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Wednesday that the Biden administration is not focused on securing a nuclear deal with Iran.
Price is Press conference When asked by a reporter in Washington whether the United States was still thinking about reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal amid massive anti-government protests across the country, he said.
The protests were sparked by the death of a 22-year-old young woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody. She was detained by Iran’s moral police on Sept. 13 for failing to comply with Iran’s strict Islamic dress code for women, Amini said three days later while still in police custody. Died.
Her death sparked outrage across the country, with many calling for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to be removed from power.
“That’s not our focus right now,” Price said, noting that Washington is instead focusing on supporting Iranian protesters.
“I think it is very clear. Iran has made it very clear that this is not the deal they were preparing. This deal certainly does not seem imminent. and is well beyond the scope of the JCPOA. [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] We haven’t heard anything in recent weeks to suggest they’ve changed their stance. ”
Iranian people’s ‘amazing bravery and bravery’
“We are now focusing on the incredible bravery and bravery that the Iranian people are displaying through peaceful demonstrations through the exercise of their universal right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression,” Price said. Stated. “Right now, our focus is spotlighting them and what they are doing and supporting them.”
The US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal under former President Donald Trump and has since imposed tough sanctions on Iran, saying the US will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail.
But President Joe Biden is keen to get Iran back into the deal in hopes of stopping it from stepping up its nuclear program.
Indirect negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal were brokered by European Union officials and have been going on for more than 16 months, but neither party has received assurances from Washington that the US president will not abandon them. Controversy over Tehran’s request to do so has so far failed to reach an agreement. future contract.
Biden has said he cannot agree to the demands of the nuclear deal because it is a political understanding, not a legally binding treaty.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in September that it was “not in a position to guarantee that Iran’s nuclear program is entirely peaceful.”
in the report (pdf) According to the IAEA, also released in September, Iran’s total stockpile of enriched uranium exceeded 300 kilograms (661 pounds) since July 2019, with enrichments of up to 3.67 percent uranium hexafluoride identified. . Uranium is the main fuel used in nuclear reactors.
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Katabella Roberts is a news writer for The Epoch Times, focusing primarily on US, world and business news.
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