Blinken denies there is any deal with Iran over its nuclear program

The US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken denied today that there is any agreement with the Iran for its nuclear program, stating that reports of such a looming agreement are “inaccurate». “As far as Iran is concerned, some of the information we’re seeing about a nuclear deal or the prisoner issue is very simply inaccurate and untrue,” he stated in response to a related question during a press conference.

Recent information published in various media reports that Washington and Tehran are close to reaching an interim agreement to replace the 2015 deal on Iran’s nuclear program, which is crumbling after the unilateral US withdrawal in 2018.

Iran, according to the Athens News Agency, also denies this information.
However, this comes at a time of renewed talks on the nuclear issue between the West and Iran.

A senior Iranian diplomat met on Monday in Abu Dhabi with officials from France, Britain and Germany and discussed strategic issues such as Iran’s nuclear program, diplomatic sources said.

Tehran also confirmed on Monday that it is holding indirect negotiations with the US and with the mediation of the Sultanate of Oman.

Blinken today reiterated the US position that the US is “determined that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon” and that to achieve this “all options are left on the table.”

“We continue to believe that diplomacy is the most effective way to achieve this but there is no agreement and information to the contrary is inaccurate,” he said. He further added that “nor is there an agreement” for the release of American citizens in Iran or for prisoner exchanges.

At least three Iranian-Americans are being held in Iran, including businessman Shiamak Namazi, who was arrested in October 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage.