TEHRAN - The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Shamkhani, has noted that the U.S. and European Union have squandered an opportunity to gain from Tehran's goodwill in the Vienna nuclear talks on the renewal of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) due to their breach of obligations and passivity.

Shamkhani said in a tweet on Friday that many rounds of talks held in Vienna since April 2021 have failed to bring the U.S. back into conformity with the JCPOA.

“The Vienna talks have reached a stage where the knot can only be untied through the adherence of the violator party to Iran's logical and principled approaches,” the senior security official noted.

“The United States, by breach of promise, and Europe, by inaction, scuttled the opportunity to benefit from Iran's proven goodwill. If they have the will to return, we are ready and an agreement is within reach,” Shamkhani added.

The tweet followed after Enrique Mora, the EU’s coordinator for the Vienna talks, visited Tehran for talks with Iranian officials, including chief negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani. After Mora returned to Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the stalled nuclear talks have been "reopened".  

Speaking on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Germany, the EU’s chief diplomat said, "The negotiations were blocked and they have been unblocked and that means there is the prospective of reaching a final agreement."

Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iran's foreign minister, said on Twitter on Friday that Tehran and the P4+1 group of countries still have a chance to establish a "good and reliable" agreement provided the U.S. takes the appropriate decision and keeps its pledges.

Despite the Islamic Republic's full adherence to its responsibilities under the deal, the U.S. administration, led by former President Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and launched a “maximum pressure” campaign against the country. 

Several rounds of talks between Iran and the five remaining JCPOA countries — the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, and Russia — have been conducted in the Austrian capital since April 2021 in an attempt to bring the U.S. back on track. However, owing to the United States' withdrawal from the agreement, American diplomats are not permitted to attend the Vienna talks.