The United States and European Union voiced frustration at the UN this week over the slow pace with Iran, saying its new government showed no indication it was ready to revive a nuclear accord.

Iran's new ultraconservative president, Ebrahim Raisi, strongly denounced the United States in a video address to the General Assembly Tuesday and indicated he backed a return to indirect talks with the United States in Vienna, although he did not give a timeline.

"We don't have yet an agreement by Iran to return to the talks in Vienna," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Thursday before leaving the annual UN summit.

"We're pretty much prepared to return to Vienna to continue the talks. And the question is whether -- and if so when -- Iran is prepared to do that," Blinken said.

"We await an answer on that."

The talks, brokered by the Europeans, seek the return of the United States to the agreement trashed by former president Donald Trump -- as well as Iran's return to full compliance.

European nations said they heard nothing concrete as they met with Iran's new foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who came to New York.

Trump's successor Joe Biden again said in his own address he wants to return to the accord, under which Iran drastically scaled back nuclear work. Since the United States left the deal in 2018, Iran retreated from many of its commitments.

The months of talks in Vienna made little concrete progress and the process went into a standstill in June, with Iran saying it needed time after the transition from a more moderate government of Hassan Rouhani.

Another US official said that nothing transpired in New York to make the Biden administration more optimistic.

"For now, certainly there's no indication, positive indication, that Iran is prepared to come back," he said on condition of anonymity.

"The window of opportunity is open and won't be open forever,"

Blinken again said that Iran's nuclear work will eventually make it pointless to revive the accord, although he stopped short of giving a timeframe.

- 'Clock is ticking' -

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas of Germany, one of five nations that negotiated with Iran and remains in the accord, warned that patience was thinning.

"The clock is ticking. We're not going to wait two or three months for the Iranian delegation to come back to the table in Vienna," Maas told reporters.

"It has to happen more quickly," he said.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that Amir-Abdollahian told him that Iran was ready to restart talks "at an early date" but gave no more precise time.

Similarly, Iran's foreign ministry said only that nuclear talks would resume "in the coming weeks."

The delay has drawn particular suspicion in Israel, which sees Iran's clerical leadership as an existential threat and has waged a sabotage campaign.

Barbara Slavin, an expert on Iran at the Atlantic Council, said that Tehran ultimately had an interest in returning to talks for the sake of the relief of sanctions which have taken a heavy economic toll.

"They're taking their sweet time," Slavin said.

"I still think they have to come back to the talks. I think they need it," she added.

US says 'no indication' Iran wants to return to nuclear deal talks
United Nations, United States (AFP) Sept 23, 2021 - The United States said Thursday that Iran has given no hint that it wants to return to stalled talks over reviving the Iranian nuclear deal.

"For now, certainly there's no indication, positive indication that Iran is prepared to come back... and to try to close down the remaining issues," a senior US official said.

Western nations are trying to build momentum at the UN General Assembly in New York this week to kickstart the accord.

Then-president Donald Trump pulled America out of the deal in 2018, reinstating sanctions on Iran that Washington had lifted as part of the agreement.

Since then, Tehran has also retreated from many of its commitments.

Trump's successor Joe Biden has indicated he wants to return to the deal, but his administration has expressed impatience at the stalled talks.

"We don't have direct interaction with the Iranians so it's hard for us to assess levels of optimism and pessimism," said the official in a briefing to journalists.

He said "nothing has happened" to make the United States optimistic.

"We've not heard anything through indirectly about a date, or about Iran's intentions to continue the work that was begun in Vienna and try to close those gaps.

"The window opportunity is open and won't be open forever," he added.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the agreement the United States, China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain reached with Iran on Tehran's nuclear program in 2015.

France Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters earlier this week on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly high-level meeting that a resumption of talks had not occurred because of Iran, which elected a new president in June.

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US, Iran edge closer to resuming nuclear talks: experts
Tehran (AFP) Sept 22, 2021
Despite sharp posturing at the UN General Assembly, Washington and Tehran are expected to reach a compromise to resume talks on resurrecting the Iran nuclear deal, analysts say. "The Vienna talks will surely restart and materialise because both sides have come to the conclusion that the current path cannot be continued," Mehdi Rahmanian, editor of the reformist newspaper Shargh, told AFP. He pointed to the lack of criticism from ultraconservatives of a deal Iran struck with the UN nuclear watchd ... read more