The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman claimed on Monday the United States is still sending messages for the resumption of the talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear agreement, reports the Xinhua news agency.
"Although the US officials have displayed reluctance to continue the nuclear talks and claimed that negotiations were not on their agenda, they are still sending messages" for the resumption of the diplomatic process to revive the agreement, the spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, was quoted as saying at a weekly press conference.
Iran maintains that the diplomatic process is the best approach to safeguard all sides' interests in the talks on the nuclear deal's revival, he noted.
"We express neither optimism nor pessimism and will remain realistic in this regard," he said, adding that if the other side remains active and have the necessary political determination for reaching a nuclear agreement, it will receive a positive response from Tehran.
In case of the other side's inaction, Iran will pursue an "independent" approach based on its own decisions and policies, he stated.
Kanaani claimed that messages are being exchanged between Iran and other sides in the negotiations, including the US government, through mediators, such as the European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell or foreign ministers from friendly states who are in contact with both Tehran and Washington.
Iran has continuously scaled back its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal it signed with world powers, in response to former US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in May of 2018.
The US and Iran had held indirect talks aimed at returning to the deal, but those talks are now at a dead end.
Iran in September announced it had submitted its comments to the US response to the European Union’s draft for reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
While Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said at the time that Iran’s response was prepared based on a constructive approach, a senior Biden administration official said the Iranian response "is not at all encouraging.”
A US official later said that the efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal have “hit a wall” because of Iran's insistence on the closure of the UN nuclear watchdog's investigations.
More recently, the US envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, said that Iran's crackdown on protesters and the sale of drones to Russia have turned the United States' focus away from reviving the nuclear deal.
Speaking to reporters in Paris, Malley insisted that the United States would leave the door open to resume diplomacy "when and if" the time came, but stated that for now Washington would continue a policy of sanctions and pressure.
