White House Says US Communicating With Iran Over Detained Americans

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday the United States had begun to communicate with Iran over the country’s detention of American citizens, calling the matter a “complete and utter…

ReutersFeb 21, 20213 min read

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’s Supreme National Security Council cited a source as saying that any communication between Tehran and Washington about detained U.S. citizens had been conducted via the Swiss embassy, which handles U.S. interests, rather than through any direct contact.

Sullivan added that Biden was determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and that diplomacy was the best way to do that.

The United States said last week it was ready to talk to Iran about both nations returning to a 2015 accord abandoned by the Trump administration that aimed to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons while lifting most international sanctions.

“Iran has not yet responded,” Sullivan said.

The two countries have been at odds over who should take the first step to revive the deal. Iran’s Foreign Ministry reiterated earlier on Sunday that the United States will not be able to rejoin the nuclear pact before it lifts sanctions. Washington says Tehran must first return to compliance.

Sullivan also told CBS that the United States will respond to the SolarWinds hack that hit several government agencies last year in “weeks, not months,” as the United States investigates the suspected Russian cyberattack.

He said the response will include a mix of tools seen and unseen, and it will not simply consist of sanctions.

“We will ensure that Russia understands where the United States draws the line on this kind of activity,” Sullivan said.

(Reporting by Michael Martina and Chris Sanders in Washington, and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Daniel Wallis)