“We are committed to diplomacy, but this process cannot continue indefinitely,” said the head of US diplomacy on a visit to Kuwait, for whom “the ball remains in Iran’s court.”
Blinken thus referred to the negotiations that have been taking place in Vienna since the beginning of April for the United States to return to the agreement reached in 2015 to establish limits on the Iranian nuclear program.
The talks appear stalled until Rohani’s term ends in early August. The current president is due to hand over power next week to ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raisi, winner of the June presidential election.
On Wednesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that the outgoing government’s experience in its dealings with world powers, including the United States, shows that “relying on the West does not work.”
“Future generations should take advantage of this experience. It became clear during this government that relying on the West does not work,” Khamenei told Rohani and members of his government, according to the supreme leader’s website.
“They don’t help us. After all, they are the enemy,” Khamenei added, referring to the problems during negotiations with Western countries and, especially, with the United States.