WASHINGTON, August 4. /TASS/. The US delegation is ready to return to Vienna for talks with Iran on reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program, but Tehran should decide on its participation first, US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price has told reporters.
"We are prepared to return to Vienna to resume those indirect negotiations towards a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA," he said. "It’s very clear that officials in Iran, in the Iranian Government - they have decisions to make within their own system about the course they want to pursue."
In his words, the timeframe of the potential seventh round of negotiations "has yet to be announced." "We continue to believe that diplomacy offers the most viable, most effective path forward," Price added.
The diplomat went on to say that Washington continues to discuss a prisoner swap with Tehran.
"We have said all along that securing the release of these unjustly detained American citizens is an absolute priority for us," he said. "We will not stop pursuing their release until they are able to be safely united with their families."
The face-to-face talks between Iran and the international "group of five" (Russia, the UK, Germany, China and France) have been underway in Vienna since April in order to revive the Iranian nuclear deal in its initial form, through lifting Washington’s sanctions against Iran, implementing nuclear obligations by Tehran, and returning the US to the deal. The representatives of the JCPOA member states are also holding separate consultations with the US delegation without Iranian participation. All the delegations were initially planning to finish working at the end of May, and then - in early June.