Exclusive; US State Department: Report of Temporary Agreement with Iran is 'Incorrect and Misleading'

A spokesperson for the US State Department on Thursday described a report by the news website 'Middle East Eye' about a temporary agreement between the United States and Iran to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions as 'incorrect and misleading.' In an email to the Persian section of Voice of America, he stated, 'Any report about reaching a temporary agreement is false.' The spokesperson referred to comments made the day before by Vedant Patel, the deputy spokesperson for the department. Patel emphasized on Wednesday to reporters that he does not respond to rumors or leaks of diplomatic conversations 'which tend to be false and misleading.' He added, 'You have heard from me, Secretary of State Blinken, and President Biden, clearly and repeatedly, that the United States is committed to never allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.' The deputy spokesperson continued, 'We still believe that diplomacy is the best way to achieve this goal on a verifiable and durable basis, but the President and Secretary of State have made it clear that we have not removed any options from the table.' The 'Middle East Eye' reported on Thursday, citing sources close to the negotiations, that Iran and the US are close to a temporary agreement under which the Islamic Republic has agreed to reduce its uranium enrichment activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. According to this report, Robert Malley, the US special envoy for Iran, has negotiated with Amir Saeed Iravani, the Islamic Republic's representative to the United Nations, and these negotiations have taken place on US soil. According to this report, Iran has also committed to stop 60% uranium enrichment and continue cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, in exchange for being able to export up to one million barrels of oil daily and access its blocked assets and properties abroad. This comes at a time when the US 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 it conducts uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes, but the US has repeatedly emphasized that the Islamic Republic's actions to produce 60% enriched uranium 'have no credible peaceful purpose and no other country in the world today uses 60% enriched uranium for the purposes claimed by the Islamic Republic.' Farhad Poladi, born in Tehran in October 1972, worked as an English teacher for eight years at the Iran Language Institute; he became a reporter for IRNA in 1998. Since 2003, he has been a reporter for Agence France-Presse in Tehran. His reporting assignments have provided opportunities to travel to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Istanbul, Moscow, and Almaty.