Iran

"The outstanding question, the question that we don't have an answer to yet, is whether Iran, at the end of the day, is willing to do what is necessary to come back into compliance with the agreement," Blinken said in an interview with CNN, Xinhua news agency reported. He raised the same question during an interview with ABC on Sunday morning.

The US State Department official said in a phone briefing on Thursday that the last three rounds of indirect talks between the US and Iran in Vienna "helped crystallise the choices", but noting "nothing has been agreed" on how to revive the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reports Xinhua news agency.

The senior official said on Wednesday that the indirect talks between the US and Iran in Vienna "made some progress" in clarifying respective steps to revive the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reports Xinhua news agency. "But clarification doesn't necessarily mean consensus," said the official.

"We, of course, have seen the reports of the incident at the Natanz enrichment facility. The US was not involved in any manner. We have nothing to add on speculation about the causes or the impacts," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during the daily briefing on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We will not talk directly or indirectly with the US in Vienna," deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said, denying American reports that indirect negotiations would take place between the two. The remaining parties of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal are to hold a fresh round of discussions on a possible US return to the agreement that aims prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons in return for sanctions relief.

Russia supports dialogue where all claims would be addressed and discussed in an "inclusive process," Lavrov said while addressing the Middle East Conference of Valdai Discussion Club, a Russian think tank, on Wednesday. However, the US still tends to view the region's problems through an "anti-Iranian prism", Xinhua news agency quoted the Foreign Minister as further saying.

The outgoing Trump administration stepped up its pressure against Iran over the past week. It announced plans to designate Yemen's Houthi group as "Foreign Terrorist Organization," accused Iran of ties to terrorist group al-Qaeda, and blacklisted multiple Iranian entities and individuals.

The 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), enabled Iran to export more than 2 million barrels of oil before the US unilateral sanctions against Tehran in 2018," he said.