Blinken: The United States is ready to look at "other options" if negotiations fail

US State Secretary Antony Blinken commented on ongoing talks to revive the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, saying that there are still a few weeks left "to see if we can get back to mutual compliance", in an interview with US public radio station NPR.

The US had withdrawn from the deal under the previous administration of Donald Trump. The current talks are about whether the United States can give guarantees that it will abide by the deal this time around.

"We're very, very short on time," because "Iran is getting closer and closer to the point where they could produce on very, very short order enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon," he said.

Blinken pointed out that Iran's nuclear advances will become "increasingly hard to reverse" because of their developing know-how. "They're doing new things as a result of having broken out of their constraints under the agreement," he said.

Reviving the JCPOA "would be the best result for America's security," the US State Secretary declared. "But if we can't, we are looking at other steps, other options" with allies including in Europe and West Asia.

As for the "other options", he said that they've been "the subject of intense work as well in the past weeks and months," he said. "We're prepared for either course."

To reach a deal with Iran, Biden will "focus the fire on Trump"

The Biden administration believes it is now only a matter of weeks before the critical decision point: either a deal will be reached and the US will return to the nuclear deal, or talks will break down and the administration will move to put more pressure on Iran.

Iran has set no such deadlines.

Both scenarios will elicit political opposition, particularly from Republicans, but the White House hopes to keep Democrats together in part by emphasizing that it was Trump who precipitated the crisis and left them with only bad options.

"They are going to focus the fire on Trump," one source told Axios.

The White House, according to a senior administration official, will "continue to clearly state the facts and set the record straight at this critical moment for diplomacy and important point in history."

According to the two sources, the Biden administration has set a decision deadline of the end of January or early February and intends to ramp up its public messaging on Iran before then.

Read more: 2021 Roundup: A JCPOA revival in 2022?

To reach a deal with Iran, Biden will "focus the fire on Trump"