The United States on Saturday accused Tehran of an “outrageous” effort to deflect blame for the impasse in Iran nuclear talks and denied that any agreement had been reached on a prisoner swap.
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, said earlier on Twitter that the next round of negotiations in Vienna must wait until the new Iranian administration takes office in August but insisted that a prisoner exchange could take place quickly if the United States and Britain would stop linking it with the nuclear issue.
Indirect US-Iranian talks on reviving the 2015 deal have been on hold since the last round ended on June 20, and Araqchi’s comments confirmed that Tehran will not return to the table before President-elect Ebrahim Raisi takes over.
“We’re in a transition period as a democratic transfer of power is under way in our capital. Vienna talks must thus obviously await our new administration,” he tweeted.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said: “These comments…