Referring to the continuing obstacles to reviving the 2015 agreement between the major powers and Iran, from which Washington withdrew, US Secretary of State Anthony Plinkin said that the signals from the Vienna nuclear talks were "not encouraging."

In a statement to journalists during his visit to Sweden, Plinken added that "it will be clear in the very near future whether Iran intends to engage in discussions on the nuclear dossier in good faith," in order to return to the agreement.

Plinkin criticized Iran, saying: "We will not accept that Iran will continue its nuclear programme, while discussions take place in Vienna."

Meanwhile, the Iranian nuclear dossier was the focus of a conversation Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had with the US Secretary of State, in Stockholm.

He visited Plinken, the Swedish capital, to participate in meetings of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), where he held discussions with officials of a number of States.

Bennett said that Iran had put forward "nuclear blackmail" as one of the tactics for conducting negotiations, suggesting that an appropriate response to that should be an immediate cessation of negotiations and firm steps by the great Powers.

Days after the 2015 nuclear agreement rescue talks, the IAEA revealed that Iran was making progress on the uranium enrichment path.

Western negotiators fear that Iran will create facts on the ground to increase its pressure papers during the talks.