Blinken: US looking at other options on Iran nuclear negotiations

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview that aired Sunday that as Iran prepares to rejoin nuclear negotiations, the U.S. and other parties are looking into “other options” in case Iran is not prepared to negotiate in good faith.

Last week, an Iranian official said the country was prepared to rejoin nuclear negotiations after they were halted in June.

“The Iranians have now said that they’re coming back to talks toward the end of November. We’ll see if they actually do,” Blinken said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“We still believe diplomacy is the best path forward for putting the nuclear program back in the box that had been in under the agreement, the so-called JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action],” Blinken added. “But we were also looking at, as necessary, other options if Iran is not prepared to engage quickly in good faith, to pick up where we left off in June, when these talks were interrupted by the change in government in Iran.”

IRAN DEAL LATEST: Secretary of State @SecBlinken doesn’t rule out military action if Iran “is not prepared to engage quickly in good faith” when it comes to the JCPOA nuclear deal.

“As we always say, every option is on the table,” Blinken tells @margbrennan pic.twitter.com/WDiaROCCYm

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) October 31, 2021

“Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan questioned whether these other options included possible military action.

“Well, as we always say, every option is on the table,” Blinken responded. “But here’s what’s important: Iran, unfortunately, is moving forward aggressively with its program. The time it would take for it to produce enough fissile material for one nuclear weapon is getting shorter and shorter.”

He added that the window for getting back to a nuclear agreement was also quickly becoming shorter, especially if Iran wished to regain the benefits of the agreement.