US, France: Time running out to revive Iran nuclear deal

• Published date: 26 June 2021
• Author: Elad Benari
• Publication title: Israel National News (Israel)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a visit to France, warned that the United States still had "serious differences" with Iran regarding a return to compliance to the nuclear deal.

"There will come a point, yes, where it will be very hard to return back to the standards set by the JCPOA," Blinken told reporters, according to AFP, using the formal name of the accord.

"We haven't reached that point -- I can't put a date on it -- but it's something that we're conscious of," he added.

Blinken warned that if Iran "continues to spin ever more sophisticated centrifuges" and steps up uranium enrichment, it will bring nearer the "breakout" time at which it will be dangerously close to the ability to develop a nuclear bomb.

At the same time, he said that President Joe Biden still supported a return to the accord.

"We have a national interest in trying to put the nuclear problem back in the box that it was in the JCPOA," Blinken said.

France also ramped up pressure on Iran to move ahead.

"We expect the Iranian authorities to take the final decisions -- no doubt difficult ones -- which will allow the negotiations...