Daily Times

China blames the United States for starting the “crisis” in the nuclear deal talks and has asked for a “positive” response from the United States to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s “reasonable concerns.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday that the United States, as the party responsible for the “nuclear crisis,” needs to “get a clear sense of where things are headed.”

His comments were made two days after a revised text was put on the table as a result of the most recent round of talks in Vienna to save the nuclear accord from 2015.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that a “final text” had been agreed upon, but an unnamed Iranian foreign ministry official was quoted by IRNA as saying that Tehran had communicated its “initial response and reservations” on the draught text.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman told reporters that Washington should “make the political decision sooner rather than later” and “respond positively to Iran’s reasonable concerns and enable the negotiations to produce results at an early date.”

Wang emphasized while blaming Washington for stalling, that “all parties concerned should speak and act prudently and create a favorable atmosphere for the negotiations.”

Also, he said it was of “important significance for keeping the Iranian nuclear issue on the right track of dialogue and negotiations” that the Vienna talks’ negotiators have expressed their willingness to reach an agreement.

The spokesman lauded the European Union’s efforts to move the negotiations forward and urged the bloc to maintain its diplomatic mediation efforts to revive the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

According to Wang’s comments to the press, “We call on the parties concerned to stay committed to the approach of dialogue and negotiation and step up diplomatic efforts to actively seek solutions to outstanding issues.”

China will play an integral role in future negotiations and will help get the JCPOA back on track. While doing so, “we will also steadfastly uphold our own lawful rights and interests,” he hastened to add.

In April of last year, Iran and the other P4+1 parties to the JCPOA (Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany) started talks in Vienna to try to save the landmark deal and lift the crippling sanctions against Iran.

While both sides acknowledged progress in several rounds of talks despite frequent interruptions, Washington’s lack of decisiveness has thus far prevented a major breakthrough.

The Joe Biden administration initially signaled its willingness to return to the deal and reverse the hard-nosed measures of the previous administration, which unilaterally abandoned the deal in May 2018 and reinstated draconian sanctions on Iran, but it has taken no concrete steps to rectify the mistakes of the previous administration.

Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington were held in Doha, Qatar, for a week last month, but again yielded no results due to the United States’ excessive demands.

Three days of expert-level negotiations between Iran and the P4+1 group of countries resumed on August 4 in Vienna after a five-month hiatus.

Borrell received a phone call from Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Monday, after negotiators had returned to their respective capitals, in which Amir-Abdollahian said Iran “expected that all sides show determination and seriousness to reach the final text of the agreement.”

The Iranian media has also pushed back against the idea that an agreement is close to being finalized, claiming that there are still “a few important remaining issues” to be settled.

“The claim that the text of the agreement will be finalized within the next few hours is false,” said Nournews, which is close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

“The information received by Nournews shows that this news report by the American media is completely false and is done with the aim of intensifying pressure on the Iranian negotiating team to give in to the excessive demands of the American side,” it continued.