“Because of the way that the Iranians approached and participated in the last rounds of talks, we did ask the national security team to be prepared in the event that diplomacy fails and to take a look at other options,” Psaki said during a press conference on Monday.
The United States continues to work on the issue, including engaging in consultations with partners around the world, she said.
Psaki declined to clarify details of the possible additional measures the United States would undertake.
“In terms of what next steps it looks like, I do not think I have anything at this point to preview,” she said.
In 2015, Iran signed the JCPOA with the P5+1 group of countries - the United States, China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom plus Germany - and the European Union. The agreement obligated Tehran to scale back its nuclear program and significantly decrease its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief. In 2018, the United States withdrew from the JCPOA and re-imposed comprehensive sanctions on Iran, prompting the latter to largely abandon its own commitments.
The seventh round of the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna to revive the JCPOA began on November 29. Lifting US sanctions on Tehran appeared to be the main issue of the talks that has not been resolved at present. However, an agreement was reached to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to replace the surveillance cameras at the TESA Karaj Complex, which could assuage concerns about the nature of Tehran's nuclear program. Some of the Karaj cameras were damaged in a sabotage attack earlier this year.