A State Department spokesman reacted to a meeting of Afghanistan and Taliban officials in Tehran, citing Washington’s expectation of holding a seventh round of talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price announced on Thursday morning that the seventh round of the UNHCR Joint Commission meeting to revive the agreement could begin.
“We expect the seventh round of talks on a nuclear deal with Iran to take place,” Price told a daily news conference at the State Department.
The sixth round of Vienna talks to revive Burjam began on Saturday, June 12, with a meeting of the Burjam Joint Commission in Vienna, and on the same day, Abbas Araghchi announced in a statement that the Islamic Republic of Iran will certainly not agree without meeting its key demands.
On Tuesday, Reuters quoted the International Atomic Energy Agency as saying that Iran planned to produce enriched metal uranium up to 20 percent.
Price also expressed concern about Iran’s decision to produce enriched metal uranium up to 20 percent, but stressed that the window of diplomacy for a bilateral return between Iran and the United States is still open.
He also spoke about the Afghan peace talks: “We appreciate Qatar’s role in the Afghanistan talks and we support the continuation of this dialogue in Doha.”
The US diplomat said about holding a meeting with Taliban members of Afghan officials in Tehran: “We know that Iran is hosting the Taliban delegation and we understand the role of Afghanistan’s neighbors in the future.”
Price, while trying to have an indifferent tone to Iran’s efforts to mediate and establish stability and calm in Afghanistan, added: “Achieving peace in Afghanistan requires a positive role for our neighbors, and Iran’s role may be positive.”
On Wednesday, the Afghan-Afghan dialogue meeting began with the inaugural speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Tehran, attended by representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban.