Photo taken on Dec. 9, 2021 shows a meeting of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria. (EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via Xinhua)

A fresh war of words between Iran and the West has clearly shown how difficult the diplomatic attempt to rescue the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal has been and will be.

The West and Iran have recently engaged in a fresh war of words as Western diplomats warned that time was running out to find a way to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement, while Iranian negotiators said the blame game will not lead to a good deal.

However, top Iranian negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani has also said "good progress has been made in the negotiation process." Such sophisticated messages from Vienna provide clear evidence of how difficult the diplomatic attempt to rescue the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has been and will be.

RHETORICAL PRESSURE

Since Iran put forward two draft proposals earlier this month, the three European countries in the Vienna talks and the United States, which all see the proposals as unrealistic, have ramped up their rhetorical pressure on Iran. In addition, Israel has continued its campaign to thwart the talks.

"As of this moment, we still have not been able to get down to real negotiations," the diplomats from Britain, France and Germany, known as E3, said in a joint statement on Monday.

"Time is running out. Without swift progress, in the light of Iran's fast-forwarding of its nuclear program, the JCPOA will very soon become an empty shell," they warned.

In the latest round of Vienna talks attended by the new Iranian government, the three European parties want Iran to agree to continue talks from where they left off in June, while Iran's negotiators reiterated that the texts of the previous rounds of talks were only "drafts" and thus they are not legally binding for Iran. Later, the West accused Iran of backtracking on "the diplomatic progress made" by demanding major changes in its proposals.

"We are losing precious time dealing with new Iranian positions inconsistent with the JCPOA or that go beyond it," the E3 diplomats warned.

Similarly, Washington also threatened economic or military consequences if the diplomatic efforts failed. "We continue at this hour, on this day to pursue diplomacy because it remains at this moment the best option, but we are actively engaging with allies and partners on alternatives," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.

In a recent meeting with his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz described Iran as "the biggest threat to the global and regional peace and stability."

"BLAME GAME"

Iran's top nuclear negotiator said on Tuesday that some parties to the agreement insist on "their blame game habit" instead of pursuing real diplomacy.

Bagheri Kani wrote in a tweet that if there is a will to "remedy the culprit's wrongdoing," the path will be quickly smoothed for reaching a good deal.

For the lack of progress in the negotiations, Tehran also accused Western parties to the 2015 nuclear deal of returning no constructive initiatives or proposals.

Bagheri Kani said in his tweet that Iran swiftly presented its proposals and made efforts constructively and flexibly to reduce the differences, stressing that diplomacy is a "two-way street."

Iran also cast doubt about the military option hinted at by Washington. "Military conflict will lead to the destruction of all U.S. assets in West Asia & the collapse of pro-U.S. regimes ... Iran would end all nuclear talks. It's wise for the U.S. to fully implement the JCPOA," Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a media advisor to the Iranian negotiating team, tweeted on Tuesday.

UNCERTAINTY AHEAD

At least until Sunday, as observed by many, there was a sense of optimism about possible progress in the Vienna talks.

The positions of the parties in the talks are different on different issues, but during the last days the extension of the subjects open to the discussion has been reduced, Bagheri Kani said Sunday.

In a recent interview with Iran's news network Press TV, the Iranian chief negotiator noted that there are several bones of contention in the current talks concerning the U.S. guarantees of not leaving the deal again and Iran's verification of Washington's sanctions removal.

Nosratollah Tajik, former Iranian ambassador to Jordan, told Iran's Arman Melli daily on Monday that the negotiations will definitely not be short, as the two main sides, namely Iran and the United States, need an agreement, but they try to give each other fewer points.

"As the culprit in reigniting the Iranian nuclear crisis, America needs to take a more active stance in the coming negotiations," Fan Hongda, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, told Xinhua.

To push the negotiations forward, he suggested the United States, for instance, help Iran gain access to part of its assets frozen abroad, instead of imposing new sanctions as it did in recent weeks.

"There can be no peace under the big stick policy," Fan noted.