Iran sends nuclear talks response; US casts doubt on offer

TIL Desk/World/Dubai/ Iran sent a written response early on Friday in negotiations over a final draft of a roadmap for parties to return to its tattered nuclear deal with world powers, though the US cast doubt on Tehran’s offer.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a statement that “the sent text has a constructive approach with the aim of finalizing the negotiations”. However, as in the last round of written proposals and counters, Iran offered no public acknowledgement of what it said.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state in the country’s Shiite theocracy, largely has been silent in recent weeks on the negotiations.

In Washington, the State Department confirmed it received Iran’s response through the European Union, which has served as an intermediary for the indirect talks after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018.

“We are studying it and will respond through the EU, but unfortunately it is not constructive,” the State Department said, similarly not elaborating on what the proposal contained. The 2015 deal saw Iran greatly curtail its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.