WASHINGTON (AP) – Biden administration’s first efforts to resurrect Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal they receive a cold early response from Tehran. While few expected an advance in the first month of the new administration, Iran’s hard line suggests a difficult path ahead.
Having made several significant openings in Iran in its first weeks of office, the irruption of the administration has been almost shunned by the Iranians. They had already rejected Biden’s opening gambit: the return of the United States to the agreement from which President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 if Iran resumes full fulfillment of its obligations under the agreement.
Iran is shaping up as important evidence of the Biden administration’s general approach to foreign policy, which the president has said will be realigned with the kind of multilateral diplomacy Trump shunned. While there are other important issues: Russia, China, and North Korea, Iran is of particular importance to Biden’s top national security aides. They include Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Iran’s Special Envoy Rob Malley, all of whom are closely involved in drafting the 2015 agreement under President Barack Obama’s mandate and who may have personal involvement in time to save him.
Biden took office pledging to reverse Trump’s withdrawal from the deal, which gave him billions of dollars in relief from sanctions in exchange for halting his nuclear program. Last week, Biden delivered at least three ways: agreeing to return to multinational talks with Iran over reactivating the deal, overturning Trump’s determination that all UN sanctions should be reinstated. in Iran and easing the heavy travel restrictions on Iranian diplomats sent to the United States. Nations.
Still, Iran has stood firm in its demands to respond to nothing less than a total lifting of the sanctions Trump imposed. Over the weekend, Iran complied with the threat to suspend membership in a UN agreement that allowed intrusive inspections of its declared nuclear sites. Although it failed to order the removal of international inspectors, Iran reduced cooperation with them and promised to review the move in three months if sanctions are not lifted.
The Iranian stance of the Iranians has left the administration at the height of a difficult decision: to move forward with the easing of sanctions before Iran resumes full compliance and runs the risk of losing its leverage. or the demands for full compliance are doubled in the first place and there is a risk of leaving Tehran for the deal completely.
It is a delicate balance that the administration is bored to admit it faces, given Iran’s politically sensitive nature in Washington (Republicans strongly oppose the nuclear deal) and in Europe and the Middle East, particularly Israel. and in the Arab Gulf states. they are more directly threatened.
On Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed that the United States is ready to return to the nuclear deal as long as Tehran shows “strict compliance.” Speaking at the UN-backed Geneva Disarmament Conference, Blinken said the United States is committed to ensuring that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon and is committed to working with allies and partners to “extend and strengthen.” the agreement established between Iran and Germany, France, Britain, Russia, China and the USA
“Diplomacy is the best way to achieve this goal.” He said.
Just 24 hours earlier, however, Iran on Sunday rejected requests to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog. Although Iran did not expel the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is responsible for monitoring Iran’s compliance with the agreement, it did end the agency’s access to video from cameras. installed in various places.
The United States did not provide an immediate response to this development, but on Monday the White House and the State Department downplayed the importance of the measure.
“Our view is that diplomacy is the best way to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. “This does not mean that they have clearly not taken the necessary steps to comply with them and we have not taken any action or indicated that we will comply with the demands they present.”
In the State Department, spokesman Ned Price addressed the IAEA mission more directly, praising the agency for its “professionalism” in keeping inspectors and their equipment in the country despite the early threat of Iran to expel them on Tuesday. He said the US supports the success of IAEA chief Rafael Grossi in reaching a temporary agreement with Iran, but lamented that Tehran remains out of compliance.
Price said the administration was concerned that Iran seemed to be going in the wrong direction, but would not comment on the administration’s opinion on whether its dissemination had so far yielded results. Nor was he willing to say what the administration could do to bring Iran back to fulfilling the deal given its continued threat of abandoning all restrictions it imposed.
“The United States is willing to meet with the Iranians to resolve these difficult and complex questions,” Price said, referring to phrases government officials have used to refer to their initial goal of “compliance for compliance” and then “compliance for compliance”. month.”
According to administration officials, “more compliance” would include limits on Iran’s non-nuclear activities, including missile development and support for rebel groups and Middle East militias. One of the main reasons Trump gave his withdrawal from the nuclear deal was that he did not address these issues and his administration has tried for more than a year to extend the deal to include them.