Blinken says Iran rejected the opportunity to revive the nuclear deal

MADRID, 18 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said Tuesday that Iran had rejected the opportunity to revive the nuclear agreement with the United States.

"The Iranians killed the opportunity to return to that agreement quickly many months ago. There was an opportunity on the table that they rejected, an opportunity that was approved by all involved: the Europeans, the US, Russia and China," he told a conference. with his British counterpart, James Cleverly.

Blinken has explained that, since then, the nuclear agreement "has not been on the (American) agenda as a practical issue for months": "It is not our objective, we are focused on what is happening in Iran," he stressed, despite President Joe Biden's pledge that Tehran "never acquire a nuclear weapon".

In this sense, the Secretary of State has criticized that the Iranian authorities are allegedly supplying Russia with weapons "so that it can use them against innocent people and against the entire energy network of Ukraine."

At the same time, Blinken has assured that Washington is focused "on its other destabilizing activities throughout the region."

Blinken, in turn, has shown his support for the British government in condemning the execution by the Iranian authorities of the Iranian British citizen Alireza Akbari, "which was politically motivated and unfair."

"It conforms to a pattern of abuse by the regime: arrests, torture, forced confessions, unjust executions," said the Secretary of State, who has stressed that he will work with the United Kingdom and other allies "to hold the leaders accountable of Iran for the abuses committed.

"We will continue to support the brave Iranians who defend their own basic rights led by young women, all this in the face of extraordinary repression," he said, referring to the massive protests that took center stage in the country after the death of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa. Amini in the month of September.

For his part, Cleverly has dismissed Akbari's execution as a "cowardly and shameful act". "I am very grateful to the United States for publicly condemning the execution, as well as to Secretary Blinken for expressing condolences to him at our meeting," he said.

"Our two countries support the brave and dignified people of Iran as they demand their rights to live free from terror and oppression," he remarked, while noting that London has sanctioned senior Iranian officials involved in Akbari's death, which He had been charged with espionage and working for MI6, the UK Intelligence service.

Thus, Cleverly has denounced that "for years, the leaders of Iran have shed blood on their regional neighbors by arming and supporting military extremists and militias", however, he has considered that the Asian country "has now gone further", alluding to to the supply of Iranian drones.

"The UK will join the US and other allies in holding the Iranian regime to account for violating the rights of its own people and becoming complicit in Putin's attack on Ukraine," the British foreign minister stressed.

Both ministers have indicated that their countries are making efforts to "put Ukraine in the strongest possible position when a negotiating table emerges", with the aim of achieving a "just and lasting peace".

"We remain united in strengthening our humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian people, especially as President Putin continues to winterize by attacking Ukraine's power grid," Blinken insisted.

"We are working together in various ways to ensure that these efforts also fail," he said, noting that both executives are increasing the supply of liquefied natural gas.

The British minister has also expressed that both he and Blinken are "very encouraged, not only by the unity between our two countries, but also by the transatlantic unity between the United States and Europe and the support of nations on all continents". .

"Almost a year after Russia's attack on Ukraine, which broke the fundamental principles of international law, and we see them committing barbaric acts wherever they go, what we see are dozens of countries supplying Ukraine with weapons and applying sanctions against Russia." , Has celebrated.