US State Department special envoy for Iran Robert Marley announced that the US is focusing on other pending issues in its policy toward Iran, such as blocking the supply of Iranian weapons to Russia, rather than restoring the Iranian nuclear deal.
According to Bloomberg News, Mali said in an interview in Rome that day that “Iran is not interested in concluding an agreement,” implying that restoring the nuclear deal is not a top priority of US policy toward Iran.
“Right now, it is important for Iran to deter and obstruct arms supplies to Russia and to work to support the fundamental aspirations of the Iranian people,” Mali said.
The Iran nuclear agreement, also called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was signed by the West and Iran, including the United States, during the Obama administration in the United States in 2015, but the US Trump administration unilaterally abolished it in 2018.
The United States started negotiations to restore the nuclear agreement after the inauguration of the Joe Biden administration, but negotiations have stalled amid last-minute disagreements.
Iran recently stepped up its uranium enrichment activities, hampering international surveillance.
Last month, the board of directors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution calling for an investigation of nuclear material at three undeclared sites in Iran, judging that Iran had not given a sincere response to the allegation that nuclear material had been detected in three undeclared areas.
Iran is demanding an IAEA halt to its probe as a condition of resuming nuclear deal negotiations, but the US and its allies are rejecting the request.
Mali said in an interview that day that there is no reason for the United States to focus on Iran if it continues to make unacceptable demands for nuclear deal negotiations. “Because we cannot go back and continue being deceived.”
He went on to say that contacts between EU and Iranian government officials continued and negotiations had not formally stopped, but the last meeting was not held at the end of August.
Mali said the US goal now is to “deter, delay, deter and sanction” any arms transfers from Iran to Russia. It will happen,” he warned.
The Russian government claims it is not using Iranian weapons, but it is using Iranian drones in its attacks on Ukraine, and its reliance on them is growing.