The United States expressed disappointment that a two-day round of indirect talks with Iran brokered by the European Union ended without progress on Wednesday.
A State Department spokesperson said, "While we are very grateful to the EU for its efforts, we are disappointed that Iran has, yet again, failed to respond positively to the EU's initiative and therefore no progress was made," adding that “Iran raised issues wholly unrelated to JCPOA and apparently isn't ready to make fundamental decision on whether it wants to revive JCPOA or bury it.”
The spokesperson said that "in Doha, as before, we made clear our readiness to quickly conclude and implement a deal on mutual return to full compliance with the JCPOA based on almost a year and a half of negotiations."
A senior administration official also said Wednesday that the talks were left in a stagnant spot, "which at this point means backwards."
Following months of standstill after numerous rounds of talks in Vienna since April 2021, Iran agreed to new talks with the US following a recent visit to Tehran by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
EU's envoy Enrique Mora also confirmed that the indirect talks between Tehran and Washington in Qatar ended without progress.
It is not clear how the Biden administration deal with the failure to reach an agreement with Tehran, as its nuclear program continues to expand.