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US starts indirect diplomacy with Iran, says White House advisor

US starts indirect diplomacy with Iran, says White House advisor
posted onMarch 13, 2021
nocomment

The United States and Iran have engaged in indirect diplomacy with Europeans and others sending messages about how they might resume compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday, reported Reuters.

"Diplomacy with Iran is ongoing, just not in a direct fashion at the moment," he told reporters.

"There are communications through the Europeans and through others that enable us to explain to the Iranians what our position is with respect to the compliance for compliance approach and to hear what their position is," Sullivan added.

The United States repeated on Thursday it will not offer Islamic Republic of Iran unilateral incentives to attend talks about both sides returning to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

"We are waiting at this point to hear further from the Iranians how they would like to proceed," Sullivan said. "This is not going to be easy but we believe that we are in a diplomatic process now that we can move forward on and ultimately secure our objective, which is to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and to do so through diplomacy."

Iran has been gradually breaching almost all its commitments under the deal. Tehran says the United States must first lift Trump’s sanctions, while Washington says Tehran must first return to compliance with the deal.