BRUSSELS (Dispatches) -- The European Union is assessing Iran’s response to what the bloc has called its proposal to save a 2015 nuclear deal, and consulting with the United States, an EU spokesperson said on Tuesday.
“For the moment, we are studying it and we are consulting with the other JCPOA participants and the U.S. on the way forward,” the spokesperson told reporters in Brussels, referring to the nuclear deal by the official abbreviation JCPOA.
She declined to give a time frame for any reaction by the EU who is coordinating the negotiations in Vienna.
After 16 months of fitful, indirect U.S.-Iranian talks, with the EU shuttling between the parties, a senior EU official said on Aug. 8 the bloc had laid down a “final” offer and expected a response within a “very, very few weeks.”
Iran responded to the proposal late on Monday but neither Tehran nor the EU provided any details on the content of the reply.
Earlier on Monday, Iran’s foreign minister had called on the U.S. to show flexibility to resolve three remaining issues, suggesting Tehran’s response would not be a final acceptance or rejection.
Reuters said diplomats and officials had told it that whether Tehran accepts the EU’s “final” offer, the West was likely to declare the pact dead because keeping it alive served its interests.
In 2018, then-President Donald Trump reneged on the nuclear deal reached before he took office, calling it too soft on Iran, and reimposed harsh U.S. sanctions, spurring the Islamic Republic after a year of “strategic patience” to scale down its compliance.
On Tuesday, CNN quoted what it called as a regional diplomat as saying that Tehran is seeking guarantees that it will be compensated if a future U.S. president pulls out of the pact.
According to the broadcaster, Iran has reservations about the possibility of a future president pulling out of the deal and unleashing new sanctions on the country.
“It seems there has been progress in bringing views closer,