The United States still does not know whether Iran is ready to resume compliance with its 2015 nuclear deal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.
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And if Tehran continues to violate the pact, he added, the "breakout time" it needs to amass enough fissile material for a single nuclear weapon will shrink to weeks.
"We've been engaged in indirect conversations, as you know, for the last couple of months, and it remains unclear whether Iran is willing and prepared to do what it needs to do to come back into compliance," Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"We're still testing that proposition," Blinken said.
"Meanwhile, its program is galloping forward. ... The longer this goes on, the more the breakout time gets down ... it's now down, by public reports, to a few months at best. And if this continues, it will get down to a matter of weeks."
The United States and Iran began indirect talks in Vienna in April to see if both sides might agree to resume compliance with the 2015 accord under which Tehran agreed to restrain its nuclear program to make it harder to obtain fissile material for a weapon in return for relief from US, EU and UN sanctions.
The fifth round of talks ended on June 2 and diplomats have said a sixth may begin on Thursday, though that was not set in stone. The United States abandoned the flawed agreement in 2018 due to Iranian belligerence in the Middle East.
"We're not even at the stage of returning to compliance for compliance," Blinken said. "We don't know if that's actually going to happen."
Resuming talks on Thursday would leave only eight days to reach a pact before Iran's June 18 election, which is likely to usher in a hard-line president. Some delegates say that while a deal is possible by then, it appears increasingly unlikely.
Blinken also said the US was committed to replenishing Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system.
"We are working with the Israelis to fully understand their needs and working with Congress. This is under very active review and we look forward to working with you to make sure that happens," Blinken said, referring to Israel's request for $1 billion in emergency funding for Iron Dome following 11 days of fighting with Gaza-based terrorist groups who launched more than 4,000 rockets at Israeli territory.
Blinken reiterated the Biden administration's position that Israel has a right to defend itself against rockets fired indiscriminately at Israeli civilians.
With regard to Hamas, Blinken called it "hard to fathom" how anyone in the world could accept a terrorist organization that has "vowed in its own charter to destroy Israel."
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