The State Department acknowledged last week that Iran currently has a window of time during which it is allowed to continue its nuclear activity unrestrained by an interim agreement announced last month in Geneva, with State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki telling reporters that the six-month period during which the administration is precluding new sanctions had not yet begun:

QUESTION: — is it your understanding that that has already begun, or is that subject to a start time determined by some sort of implementing parameters?

MS. PSAKI: Well, that’s a good question. It has not – the next step here is a continuation of technical discussions at a working level so that we can essentially tee up the implementation of the agreement. So that would involve the P5+1 – a commission of the P5+1 experts working with the Iranians and the IAEA. Obviously, once that’s – those technical discussions are worked through, I guess the clock would start. Obviously, there’ll also be a reconvening of the political track with the P5+1, which Under Secretary Sherman will continue to be our lead negotiator on.

QUESTION: Just two things with that. How long do you expect that process to take until the clock starts? And secondly, is it your understanding that the Iranians are already implementing the agreement, or are they using this lull for whatever they prefer?

MS. PSAKI: I don’t have a specific timeline for you. I’m happy to check and see if there’s something more specific in terms of how quickly the technical pieces could be outlined or agreed to.

In terms of what the Iranians are or aren’t doing, obviously our hope would be, given we are respecting the spirit of the agreement in pressing for sanctions not to be put in place and beginning the process of figuring out how to deliver on our end of the bargain, that the same would be coming from their end in the spirit of the agreement.

The Times of Israel tersely noted that Psaki’s comments didn’t provide a straightforward answer:

Her comments created confusion as to whether the much-touted interim deal, supposedly reached by P5+1 powers and Iran in Geneva in the early hours of Sunday morning, had actually been completed as claimed. Iran on Tuesday accused the US of publishing an inaccurate account of what had been agreed. And its Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an address to the Iranian parliament Wednesday that Iran would continue construction on the Arak heavy water plant, in an apparent breach of the ostensibly agreed terms.

Linking to a Fox News article echoing that sentiment, Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) suggested that the confusion accounts for the “chilly bi-partisan response” that the White House has received to the agreement.

[Photo: U.S. Department of State / YouTube]