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On Tuesday, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council issued a joint statement affirming their shared commitment to nuclear non-proliferation and the principle that nuclear conflict must be avoided at all costs. The statement came one day after representatives of those five states \u2013 the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China \u2013 rejoined counterparts from Germany to continue the eighth round of discussions with Iran aimed at restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action<\/a>.<\/p>\n The eighth round began last week ahead of its original schedule, before taking a three-day pause for the New Year. The accelerated timeline was apparently motivated by a lack of progress during the seventh session, which began on November 29, ended on December 17, and marked the end of a more than five-month delay in the Vienna talks brought on by a change of the guard in Tehran with a new, hardline president.<\/p>\n Iran returned to the negotiations with an expansion of its demands for up-front sanctions relief without pre-condition. Each of the Western participants<\/a> in those negotiations declared that Iran was moving away from earlier compromises during the seventh session, and even Russia and China were reportedly taken aback. In the wake of those reports, the UNSC statement arguably represents renewed unity of purpose in deterring Iran\u2019s progress toward a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n Even without identifying Iran by name, that statement left no doubt that such progress would be considered unacceptable to all parties involved.<\/p>\n \u201cFor as long as they continue to exist,\u201d the statement read, \u201c[nuclear weapons] should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war. We believe strongly that the further spread of such weapons must be prevented.\u201d<\/p>\n British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reiterated on Tuesday that \u201cthe diplomatic door is open, but time is running out to reach an agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n His statement came just a few days after US officials told the media that it would still take some time to determine whether Iran had softened from the unworkable, hardline position it staked during the seventh session.<\/p>\n Iranian authorities seemingly undermined the negotiations by carrying out a space launch<\/a> with the apparent intention of warning their adversaries about Tehran\u2019s missile capabilities. Although the launch failed in its stated goal of placing three items into orbit, it nonetheless highlighted Iran\u2019s recent progress toward the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles which are capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. There have been six such launches since 2016, one of which was successful.<\/p>\n On November 24, 2013, I declared and repeated many times afterwards:#Iran<\/a>#JCPOA<\/a>#IRGC_Out<\/a> #IranNuclearDeal<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/2suqJCgdGg<\/a><\/p>\n — Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) May 21, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n