Blinken: Our Focus is Not on the JCPOA; All Options Are on the Table

The U.S. Secretary of State said in an interview with Asharq News in Riyadh on Thursday that Washington's current focus is not on the JCPOA. According to Antony Blinken, the Biden administration has sought a mutual return to the JCPOA since day one, and Washington's European partners, as well as Russia and China, have made significant efforts in this regard, but Iran either could not or did not want to take the necessary actions to return to its JCPOA commitments. The senior U.S. diplomat added, "Diplomacy remains the best way to ensure a sustainable, verifiable, and effective means of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and the Biden administration continues to welcome diplomacy while being very determined to stand against Iran's dangerous and destabilizing actions." Blinken reiterated warnings from U.S. officials, including Joe Biden, that all options to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons are on the table. Regarding the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, he said, "We commend what has happened. Anything that reduces tensions and at least removes one issue from the agenda, and in this specific case may have the added benefit of helping to advance peace in Yemen, is a good thing in our view." He commented on Beijing's role, stating, "If major powers, including China, play a positive role in reducing tensions and advancing peace, it is a positive development welcomed by the United States." Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department also described a report by the Middle East Eye news website about a temporary agreement between the U.S. and Iran to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions as "incorrect and misleading." The U.S. has stated that reviving the JCPOA is not a priority for the Biden administration following the onset of popular protests in Iran. The Islamic Republic claims that its uranium enrichment is for peaceful purposes, but the U.S. has repeatedly emphasized that Iran's actions to produce uranium enriched to 60% "have no credible peaceful purpose, and no other country in the world today uses 60% enriched uranium for the purposes that the Islamic Republic claims."