US less optimistic over reaching Iran nuclear deal

BSS :
US optimism that a deal to restore the 2015 agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear developed has soured, with the State Department warning Tuesday it was headed toward “Plan B” if Tehran doesn’t budge. Just a week ago Washington officials were hopeful that an agreement that aimed to halt Iran’s march toward nuclear weapons capability, after almost one year of negotiations, was within reach.
“We are close to a possible deal, but we’re not there yet,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said on March 16. “We do think the remaining issues can be bridged.”US officials said they thought Tehran would reach an agreement after Sunday’s celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year.
But that tone suddenly changed the following day. “I want to be clear that an agreement is neither imminent nor is it certain,” Price said Monday. And on Tuesday, while refusing to say the talks had reached an impasse, Price said the United States had contingency plans if a deal could not be reached and Iran’s alleged plans to develop nuclear weapons were not halted. “The onus is on Tehran to make decisions that it might consider difficult,” Price told reporters. “In fact we are preparing equally for scenarios with and without a mutualreturn to full implementation of the JCPOA,” he said, referring to the formal name of the 2015 deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.