“The EU has put forward best proposal based on many, many months of discussions, negotiations, conversations. It's very consistent with something that they put forward in March that we agreed to that we are pursuing,” Blinken said. “It remains to be seen whether Iran is willing and able to move forward. So we remain prepared to move forward on the basis of what's all been agreed. It's still unclear whether Iran is prepared to that.”
In 2015, Iran signed the nuclear agreement formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with the United States, China, France, Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom and the European Union. The agreement required Iran to scale back its nuclear program and downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including lifting the arms embargo five years after the deal's adoption.
In 2018, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA and imposed comprehensive sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to largely abandon its obligations under the accord.
However, the parties to the agreement, together with the United States, have since begun negotiations to revive the JCPOA by conducting negotiations. After a round of indirect talks in Qatar in July, US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley said that Iran has added new demands unrelated to the original agreement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said in July that Tehran is ready to negotiate a strong and durable nuclear agreement based on the mutual interests of all concerned parties rather than what he describes was the United States’ "mutually exclusive" unilateral demands.