US, allies step up pressure on Iran to return to nuke talks

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

59% : Iran was at the top of the agenda in all the meetings that brought together top diplomats from the European Union, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to officials who participated, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed.
59% : A senior Israeli official who participated in the talks told reporters that Lapid´s visit to Washington, which also included meetings with Vice President Kamala Harris and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, "was a very intimate discussion about what should be done" if Iran refuses to engage or engage seriously.
59% : The official said Israel was pleased that the Biden administration was hardening its position and said Israel believes it is "important to give (Iran) the feeling of encirclement."
58% : The U.S. special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, is continuing the Iran conversation with Gulf Arab states this weekend, while the head of the United Nations' atomic watchdog, Rafael Grossi, will be in Washington next week for further discussions.
54% : Borrell, whose top aide just returned from a visit to Tehran to gauge the position of the government, said he is willing to meet with Iranians ahead of a resumption in the Vienna talks.
54% : We will look at every option to deal with the challenge posed by Iran."
51% : "There is every possibility that Iran will choose a different path, and we need to coordinate with Israel and other partners in the region."
46% : "I think we need to focus on a quick resumption of talks (and) suspension of these activities by Iran."
45% : Iran has hinted it´s ready to return to indirect negotiations with the U.S. but has not yet committed to a date.
42% : The EU, which has been charged with organizing the talks, has reported that Iran may not be willing to do so anytime soon and wants to meet with Borrell and others in Brussels before returning to Vienna.
42% : In a rare acknowledgment by the U.S. that it is looking at what to do in the event diplomacy with Iran fails, he said the window for Iran to return to the talks is closing but declined to give a date at which it would be too late.
38% : European, Israeli and Arab officials agreed on the need to make clear to Iran that its continued resistance to rejoining the talks in Vienna will not be ignored or left unpunished.
36% : The United States and its closest partners are stepping up pressure on Iran to return to stalled nuclear negotiations, warning that it will face greater international isolation, new economic penalties and possibly military action if it forges ahead with its atomic program.
36% : "We´re in a very dangerous place," Prince Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, told reporters at a separate news conference Friday, noting Iran's accelerating nuclear work.
34% : Lapid was more blunt, raising anew Israel´s warnings that it will act, with military force if necessary, to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
28% : The consensus comes amid growing concerns that Tehran is not serious about returning to the negotiations aimed at bringing both Iran and the United States back into compliance with the languishing landmark 2015 nuclear deal that former President Donald Trump withdrew from three years later.

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