The Biden administration says it will not "waste time" on trying to revive talks with Iran regarding its dormant nuclear deal in light of Tehran’s brutal crackdown on antigovernment protesters and its support of Russia in its war against Ukraine.
While speaking at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Monday, U.S. envoy for Iran Rob Malley said the administration "makes no apology" for "trying to do everything we can to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon."
Malley’s comments were the closest a Biden administration official has come to admitting it was abandoning its efforts to resurrect the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Over the summer, Iranian officials rejected an EU proposal and made more demands in late August and early September. Since that time, antigovernment protests have broken in Iran in response to the police custody death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Morality police detained Amini in September for not properly covering her hair with the Islamic headscarf, known as the hijab, which is mandatory for Iranian women.
At least 270 people have been killed and 14,000 arrested, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. Demonstrations have continued, even as the feared paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has warned young Iranians to stop.
