Ned Price: The Iran nuclear deal isn’t our focus right now and our current concern is how to support Iranian protesters

The United States said on Wednesday that reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal isn’t our focus now, adding that Tehran had shown little interest in reviving the accord and Washington was focusing on how to support Iranian protesters.

Asked if the United States was interested in continuing talks to revive the agreement under which Iran restricted its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions, State Department spokesman Ned Price said, “That’s not our focus right now”.

“It’s very clear, and the Iranians have made it very clear, that this is not a deal they were prepared to make,” Price told a news briefing… An agreement certainly does not appear imminent”.

“We haven’t heard anything in recent weeks that they have changed their position, and so our focus now… is on the remarkable courage that the Iranian people have shown through their peaceful demonstrations”, Price said.

“Our focus is now on highlighting what they are doing and supporting them in possible ways,” he added, referring to the anti-government protests sparked on September 16 by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in Iranian morals police custody.