UNITED NATIONS, August 1. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that North Korea is getting ready for a new nuclear test.
"The DPRK continue to expand its unlawful nuclear program and continues its ongoing provocations against the region. As we gather today, Pyongyang is preparing to conduct its seventh nuclear test," the Secretary said, speaking at the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review conference in the UN headquarters in New York.
Blinken also claimed that Tehran is either unable or unwilling to agree to the Iran Nuclear Deal.
"Iran remains on the path of nuclear escalation. Although it publicly claims to favor return to mutual compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), since March, Iran has been either unwilling or unable to accept the deal to achieve precisely that goal. Getting back to the JCPOA remains the best outcome for the US, for Iran, for the world," Blinken said.
The JCPOA was signed with Iran in 2015 in order to overcome the crisis regarding its nuclear program by the five UN Security Council permanent members and Germany. The previous US president Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018. The incumbent president Joe Biden repeatedly indicated his readiness to bring the US back into the nuclear deal. Russia, the UK, Germany, China, the US and France have been engaging in negotiations on restoration of the JCPOA in Vienna since April last year.