President Joe Biden (Joe Biden) said in an exclusive media interview on July 7 that the United States could rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as long as Tehran once again fully complies with the Iran nuclear deal, but that the United States would not lift sanctions on Iran in order to bring it back to the negotiating table, which would only happen if the Iranian authorities stopped enriching uranium.
Biden made the statement during a question from CBS’ Norah O’Donnell about whether he would move to begin returning to the negotiating table with Iran.
A year after taking office in 2018, former U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with Iran, citing “a lousy deal,” which was designed to get Iran to give up developing nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. But Iran’s actions have been reducing compliance with its commitments under the deal, so the agreement exists in name only.
Iranian authorities in Tehran believe that the first step the Biden Administration should take now that the United States withdrew from the deal in 2018 is to lift the tough sanctions imposed by former President Trump on Iranian leaders personally, the Iranian economy and terrorism.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday (7) that if the U.S. wants the Tehran authorities to return to the deal, the U.S. “must lift all sanctions” for Iran to return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, which is “final and irreversible” decision.
Israel’s Aviv Kochavi In a recent speech at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi said Israel is developing plans to attack Iran as it begins to restart its nuclear program in recent months, and is putting those plans on the table. He noted that any return to the Iran nuclear deal by the United States would be wrong.
This rare Israeli statement is a clear signal to the Biden administration that Washington must exercise caution in any diplomatic contacts with Tehran.
The Biden administration has already made some moves that indicate the U.S. appears to be offering an olive branch to Iran. 5 Biden announced that he has formally notified Congress that he will revoke the Houthis’ designation as a foreign terrorist organization and a specially designated global terrorist organization. Earlier, Biden also announced that the U.S. would no longer support the Saudi Arabia-led war against the anti-government Houthis in Yemen.
In response, U.S. Senator Tom Cotton issued a statement on June 6 criticizing President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken for the “foolishness” of the idea of exchanging peace for friendship with the Houthis, who have long ignored cease-fire agreements and used missiles to attack U.S. crews and Yemeni civilians. He argued that Biden is likely to repeat the fatal mistakes of the Obama administration.
The Houthis in Yemen are reportedly trained, armed and equipped by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and Hezbollah, and their slogan is “Allahu Akbar, Death to America, Death to Israel.”
In the past, the Trump Administration has viewed Iran and the terrorist groups it supports as the biggest threat in the Middle East, imposing tough sanctions on them to support Israel and its Saudi allies. The U.S. even ordered a drone airstrike on Baghdad International Airport last Jan. 3, beheading Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Trump also tweeted at the Time that Soleimani was responsible for the repression and killing of many U.S. citizens and, more recently (November 2019), many Iranian protesters, arguing that he “should have been killed years ago.”
Left, Iran’s supreme leader Hamini. On the right is Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Soleimani, who was killed by U.S. forces.
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