The United States on Thursday demonstrated no interest in the forthcoming talks between the EU-3 and Iran over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.
The EU-3, namely Britain, France and Germany, talked to the United States about Friday's ministerial talks, which were requested at the last minute by Tehran, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said.
"As we have throughout this process, we're supportive of the EU-3 ...Let's see what happens on Friday," Ereli said, noting "we're under no illusions."
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani left Moscow later Thursday for Vienna, where he will meet foreign ministers of the EU-3 on Friday in a round of negotiations called for by him.
However, the upcoming last-ditch negotiations are expected to be hard due to Iran's rejection to return to a moratorium on its activities related to uranium enrichment, which the European Union insists on.
The EU-3-Iran talks come ahead of a March 6 meeting of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA is to make an assessment of Iran's nuclear program that will be sent to the UN Security Council, which could then take punitive action against Iran.
Whatever the outcome of the talks between the European foreign ministers and Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ereli said, the case of Iran should go to the UN Security Council.
"We expect it to come up at the Security Council after March 6, " the spokesman said.