State Department made ‘calculation’ to prioritize Iran nuclear deal over human rights issues

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said talks to revive an Iran nuclear deal have gone "backward," but the State Department insists the deal remains its top priority.

Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on national and global news. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this month said that hopes of a nuclear deal have once again stalled as negotiations took a "backwards" step. He told reporters at NATO headquarters in Belgium that he was not going to "negotiate anything in public," and that despite the fact that both sides had "closed some gaps," Iran had not yet met "bottom-line requirements" for the deal. 

At the same time, tensions in Iran have hit boiling point following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died while in the custody of Iran’s morality police for alleged violations of the hijab (headscarf) rules. The police rejected responsibility for Amini’s death, claiming she fell into a coma, but her family and witnesses say they found evidence upon her arrival at hospital that she had been beaten.