WASHINGTON: A senior State Department official said “Iran walked back any compromises it made in previous talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, pocketed all compromises made by others and asked for more during indirect US-Iranian talks this week.”

The official told reporters on condition of anonymity “Iran continues to accelerate its nuclear programme in provocative ways and China and Russia were taken aback at how far Iran had walked back its proposals in last week's talks in Vienna.”

The indirect US-Iranian talks on saving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal broke off on Friday as European officials voiced dismay on at sweeping demands by Iran's new, hardline government.

The seventh round of talks in Vienna is the first with delegates sent by Iran's anti-Western President Ebrahim Raisi on how to resuscitate the agreement under which Iran limited its nuclear programme in return for relief from economic sanctions.

The senior US official said Iran came with proposals that walked back anything - any of the compromises Iran had floated here in the six rounds of talks, pocket all of the compromises that others, and the US in particular, had made, and then asked for more.”