Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has so far refused to resume indirect talks with the United States in Vienna, over the return of both sides to comply with the agreement under which Iran curtailed its nuclear program in exchange for easing economic sanctions.
“We will discuss all options to confront the challenges posed by Iran,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a joint press conference with his Israeli counterparts Yair Lapid and Emirati Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed.
“If the Iranians do not believe that the year is serious about stopping them, they will rush to build a bomb,” Lapid said. “Israel reserves the right to act at any moment and in any way.” Israel has previously bombed nuclear sites in Iraq and Syria.
US officials stressed that Washington still preferred to return to compliance with the agreement that the United States withdrew from in 2018 during the administration of its former president, Donald Trump, and whose nuclear restrictions Iran began violating nearly a year later.
Iran concluded the 2015 accord with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. The last round of the Vienna talks was held in June. Iran said talks would resume “soon”, but did not specify a new date.
A Western diplomat said on Wednesday he believed talks could resume in late October at the earliest.
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