US Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves as he boards a plane, en route to Israel, at Warsaw Chopin Airport, Poland March 26, 2022. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via REUTERS

i24 News – The US State Department has admitted that the Biden administration maintains several backdoor methods of communication with the Iranian regime on multiple issues between the two countries, although it denies that a return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is at the top of the agenda.

“We have avenues to communicate with Iran on issues of concern, such as the issue of the release of U.S. citizens unlawfully detained in Iran, but we do not intend to detail them,” a State Department spokesperson told the Israel Hayom newspaper. The spokesperson, however, stressed that a return to the original 2015 nuclear deal was not relevant at this stage.

“The deal is not the focus of our concerns. Since September, we have focused on defending the basic freedoms of the Iranian people and against Iran’s deepening military partnership with Russia and its support for the war in Ukraine,” the State Department said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the first meeting of his political-security cabinet last week that a return to the old nuclear deal remains entirely possible despite the breakdown of negotiations, and popular demonstrations that have shaken Iran since September.

For his part, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told new Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen this week that the nuclear deal was not viable at this stage.