WASHINGTON, 29 November 2021, (TON): The United States under President Joe Biden is to resume on Monday indirect negotiations with Iran in Vienna but is far less optimistic than in the spring about the possibility of saving the Iranian nuclear deal.

And its options to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb are limited if talks fail.

As president, Donald Trump withdrew from the international deal in 2018 and reimposed US sanctions lifted under the accord’s terms.

In response, the Islamic Republic has flouted many of the restrictions set on its nuclear program.

Biden has said “he wants to return to the deal, negotiated in 2015 by then-president Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as vice president, so long as Iran also resumes the original terms.

The indirect negotiations in Vienna resume Monday after a five-month suspension imposed by Iran.

“There is room to quickly reach and implement an understanding,” a spokesperson for the US State Department said Wednesday.

But the American envoy on Iran, Rob Malley, has said that Tehran’s attitude “doesn’t augur well for the talks.”