WASHINGTON: The United States ruled out any imminent revival of the Iranian nuclear deal on Thursday, issuing a downbeat assessment of long-stalled talks over the 2015 accord.

The landmark deal has been in tatters since then-president Donald Trump withdrew the United States from it in 2018 and Iran later backed away from some of its own commitments. On-off talks have been underway since last year to revive the deal, which gave Iran much-needed sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

“It’s not that we don’t want to see the JCPOA reimplemented, we of course do. We’re just not in a position where... that’s a likely outcome anytime in the near future,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters. The abbreviation stands for “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action”.

“What we’re focused on is holding the (Iran) regime accountable for what they are doing to these innocent political protesters.”

The European Union had submitted in August a final draft of a modified nuclear text for the agreement, but there are key sticking points between Tehran and Washington and the UN nuclear watchdog.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2022