Iran's Foreign Ministry on Saturday criticized a joint statement issued by Germany, France and Britain about the negotiations aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, AFP reported.
The remarks came after the three countries raised "serious doubts" about Iran's sincerity in seeking a revived nuclear agreement and warned that the Islamic Republic's position was jeopardizing the prospects of reaching a deal.
The three European parties to the 2015 deal said that Tehran "has chosen not to seize this critical diplomatic opportunity", adding that "instead, Iran continues to escalate its nuclear programme way beyond any plausible civilian justification".
In response, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said, as quoted by AFP, "It is surprising and regrettable that, in a situation where diplomatic interactions and exchanges of messages are continuing... to finalize the negotiations," the three European parties would issue such an "unconstructive" statement.
"The three European countries are advised to play a more active role to provide a solution to end the few remaining disagreements instead of entering the phase of destroying the diplomatic process," he added.
Kanani said it was "regrettable that the three European countries have taken a step in the path of the Zionist regime to defeat the negotiations with this ill-considered statement," referring to Israel.
"If such an approach continues, they must also accept responsibility for its results," he continued.
The comments come as the negotiations between the US and Iran appear to have reached a stalemate.
Iran last week announced it had submitted its comments to the US response to the European Union’s draft for reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
While Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said at the time that Iran’s response was prepared based on a constructive approach, a senior Biden administration official told Politico, “We are studying Iran’s response, but the bottom line is that it is not at all encouraging.”
Last Friday, a senior European official directly involved in nuclear talks with Iran told Axios’ Barak Ravid that Iran’s latest response to the EU’s proposal is unreasonable and indicates that the Iranians are not interested in closing a deal.
On Monday, the Iranian spokesperson once again insisted that Iran's response to the US viewpoints on the European Union's proposed final draft of a potential nuclear agreement was "constructive, clear and legal".
Meanwhile, a report in the Israel Hayom newspaper last week stated that US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman had said in recent closed conversations that the nuclear agreement with Iran will not be implemented.
According to the report, Sherman spoke in recent days with some of the Democratic members of Congress who oppose the nuclear deal with Iran, and expressed frustration with Iran's moves during the negotiations and with the fact that, despite all the administration's attempts, Tehran is still making maneuvers that are preventing an agreement from being reached.
Due to the lack of progress, Sherman estimated in those conversations that the agreement with Iran will not be signed at least until the "midterm elections" to be held on November 8. She said that the agreement with Iran might not be signed at all.