US State Department Representative Ned Price WASHINGTON, Mar 14 Iranian American citizens with the fate of the Iranian nuclear deal and are holding separate talks on the subject, State Department spokesman Ned Price said. their safe release and return to their families,» Price said.The United States allowed the creation of an alternative agreement on Iran without RussiaThe high-ranking diplomat stressed that the return of American citizens imprisoned abroad is one of the key priorities for the current US administration. «We are negotiating on this issue on a separate track,» the representative of the US State Department said. He added that efforts in this direction will continue regardless of whether the negotiations to restore the Iranian nuclear deal are successful. ), which proposed lifting sanctions in exchange for limiting Iran's nuclear program. In May 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA and reinstated sanctions against Tehran. In response, Iran announced a phased reduction in its obligations under the agreement, abandoning restrictions on nuclear research, centrifuges and the level of uranium enrichment.Now negotiations are underway in Vienna to renew the JCPOA and lift Washington's sanctions against Tehran, on December 27, 2021, the eighth round started. Back in the course of the seventh round, in December, the parties reached an agreement on two draft agreements, in which the European side also included Iran's positions. On December 31, the negotiations were suspended due to the New Year holidays; on January 3, the parties continued the dialogue in Vienna. According to Iranian representative Bagheri Kyani, the talks are going well, but US State Department spokesman Ned Price assessed the progress in Vienna as «modest», urging Tehran to take the issue seriously. Vienna on the restoration of the JCPOA will go at the same pace, until the end of February, the parties can reach an agreement. After that, it may take about two more months to prepare for the resumption of the nuclear deal, so it could be fully operational by April, at which time the oil embargo against Iran could already be lifted.
Iran is committed to the peaceful use of the atom, Khamenei said
