US 'cautiously optimistic' nuclear deal can be reached with Iran

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US struck a guarded note of optimism on Wednesday that it can reach an agreement with Iran on a mutual return to the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement.

"We still remain hopeful that we can get a reimplementation of the JCPOA," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, using the formal acronym for the agreement. “We do believe we're closer now than we have been in recent weeks and months, due in large part to Iran being willing to drop some of their demands that were not related to the deal at all.”

"We're cautiously optimistic that the things can continue to move in the right direction," he added.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) saw an international inspections regime imposed on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from biting international sanctions that hobbled Iran's economy.

In 2018, then-President Donald Trump unilaterally left the agreement, bucking objections from all of the deal’s other participants, including close US allies in Europe, and reimposed US sanctions in a fruitless effort to bring Iran back to the negotiating table.

Instead, the Islamic republic took its own steps to ratchet up pressure on the deal's international participants, including breaking limits it agreed to on key nuclear activities, including enrichment and the amount of enriched uranium it is allowed to possess.

Indirect talks between Iran and the US, mediated by the EU, concluded in Vienna earlier this month with a draft of the agreement being reached after over a year of negotiations.

The US said on Aug. 22 that Iran dropped its demand the US remove its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) from a terror blacklist as part of the ongoing negotiations, removing a key stumbling block from the diplomatic talks.

Both the US and EU have submitted their responses to the EU's proposal.