US National Security Adviser: Washington Will Keep Working for Return to JCPOA

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said that American diplomats will keep working “to try to arrive at a mutual return to the JCPOA, which is the Iran nuclear deal, on a compliance-for-compliance basis.”

Sullivan made the remarks in an interview on Sunday after Iran’s lead negotiator said the third round of negotiations in Vienna to fully restore the 2015 nuclear agreement has concluded with some “maturity” and “clarity” while there remains a lengthy and bumpy road ahead.

Sullivan also acknowledged that Washington and Tehran are not close to an agreement to revive US participation in the nuclear pact, which was reached between Iran and the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union in 2015.

“There is no deal now,” Sullivan told ABC News.

The US official said nothing had been agreed upon amid ongoing negotiations in Austria.

“There’s still fair distance to travel to close the remaining gaps, and those gaps are over what sanctions the United States and other countries will roll back,” he said.

“They are over what nuclear restrictions Iran will accept on its program to ensure that they can never get a nuclear weapon,” he said, repeating baseless US claim that Tehran is seeking to build a nuclear weapon. Iran’s top leadership has always maintained that the country’s nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.

In recent days, expert negotiations were held within three working groups in Vienna that were formed to resolve technical issues hampering a full restoration of the nuclear agreement, also called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Bilateral and multilateral meetings were also held to exchange views and coordinate efforts aimed at reaching a consensus on the path forward.

The JCPOA was reached to lift international sanctions on Iran in exchange for certain restrictions and robust inspections on the country’s nuclear work.

Source: Press TV