(JNS)
The United States is not currently focused on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, State Department spokesman Ned Price said recently, adding that the Islamic Republic has shown little interest in moving ahead with negotiations to reach a signed agreement.
Instead, Washington is concentrating on ways to support Iranian anti-regime protesters.
Price, when asked on Wednesday, Oct. 12, whether Washington was taking active steps to break through a deadlock in talks with Iran, replied, “That’s not our focus right now.
“It is very clear and the Iranians have made very clear that this is not a deal that they have been prepared to make. The deal certainly does not appear imminent,” he said.
He added that the U.S. has seen no evidence in recent weeks of a change in the Iranian position. As a result, Washington is shifting its focus on helping Iranians protesting in the streets following the Sept. 13 arrest of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini by the morality police in Tehran and her death in custody three days later.
Amini’s Kurdish first name was Zhina, but she was forced by the regime to go by the Persian Mahsa moniker.
Price praised “the remarkable bravery and courage that the Iranian people are exhibiting through their peaceful demonstrations.”
At least 201 protesters, including 23 children, have been killed by Iranian security forces throughout the country, the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights group said on Wednesday, Oct. 12.
