The United States State Department on Tuesday said that Iran’s
latest efforts to enrich uranium could potentially jeopardise the talks between
the country and the West that are aimed at restarting the 2015 nuclear accord.
It also warned Iran to stop nuclear “brinksmanship”.

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“It is worrying that Iran is choosing to continue to
escalate its non-performance of its JCPOA commitments, especially with
experiments that have value for nuclear weapons research,” AFP quoted State
Department spokesman Ned Price as saying. Price was referring to the joint
comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA) reached between Iran and six nations on
restricting Tehran’s atomic programme.

“We continue to urge Iran to stop this brinksmanship,
to return to Vienna prepared for real talks, and to be in a position to be
prepared to finish the work that we have started in April,” he added.

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Price said there was no set timeline for closing the window
on negotiations with the Islamic republic.

But he made clear that Washington would reconsider if Iran
continued with its “provocative steps” aimed at shrinking the
breakout time for Iran to produce enough fissile material for a bomb — from a
year at the time of the JCPOA to reportedly just months today.

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“We see negotiations and diplomacy as, for now, the
best means to put Iran’s nuclear program back in a box,” he said.

Iran has gradually moved away from the terms of the said
deal after former US president Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018.

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The talks being held in Vienna are aimed at bringing the
United States under new President Joe Biden back into the JCPOA. Biden has
expressed readiness if conditions are met by Iran but the talks which began in
April, have not moved forward in recent weeks.

With the new President Ebrahim Raisi, a hardliner close to
the country’s Supreme leader, due to take office in Iran on August 3 and
succeed the more moderate Hassan Rouhani, it is also not clear what will happen
when they do.