If Joe Biden wins in November, his administration is expected to rejoin the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). A Biden administration engaging in diplomacy with Tehran would undoubtedly face pressure from Republican Iran hawks in Congress, and comments from a leading Democrat on Wednesday suggest the pressure could come from both sides of the aisle.
Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he would support a Biden administration rejoining the nuclear deal if it addressed “shortfalls” of the original JCPOA.
“I’m sure that Vice President Biden, should he become president, will want to deal with the totality of all of those issues, and that to me, suggests a JCPOA-plus,” Menendez said. The senator said a JCPOA-like deal between the US and Iran is necessary but stressed the need for an agreement that further restricts Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities than the Obama-era one.
“Anyone who believes that just going back to the JCPOA, including some of my strongest colleagues who supported the JCPOA, recognize that more has to be done than just the JCPOA,” he said.
Since the US reneged on the JCPOA less than three years after signing the deal, it is unlikely that Iran would be willing to make additional concessions before returning to the original agreement.
In September, Biden penned an op-ed for CNN that laid out his Iran policy, where he calls for a return to the JCPOA. “I will offer Tehran a credible path back to diplomacy. If Iran returns to strict compliance with the nuclear deal, the United States would rejoin the agreement as a starting point for follow-on negotiations,” Biden wrote.
It was the US that left the deal , and they do not get to rejoin on the basis that they want to renegotiate, lease tell me what difference that would be from what Trump demanded in the first instance! To rejoin, the US needs to immediately return to the original deal. END OF STORY! Do not forget it is ONLY the US that thinks it actually has the right to force the sanctions, the UN and the other countries involved in the Deal say the US has no rights under their leaving of the deal! The US also needs to compensate Iran for the actions it has done to Iran and the damage caused!
Nice sentiments with which I generally agree but the likeliest scenario which would play out with Biden is that Biden’s administration would compensate Iran for any damage done by Trump’s circle of neocons in exactly the same way that Obama’s administration compensated for the damage done to Iraq by W.’s gang of thugs. With a few refinements–here in this instance with a few refinements to the current regime of sanction thuggery.
Will Iran ever trust the US again they have a habit of breaking deals
The world should kindly offer the US temporary and conditional sanctions relief as long as it makes no moves to develop nuclear weapons.
Here we have yet another classic example of the Democrats proclaiming that they are the better war-mongering Right-wing political party.
Looks like we’re about to get rid of Trump but retain his Iran policy.
The Trumpistas are already trying to set the debate on going back into JCPOA by a Biden administration. “Iran has intervened in our elections by hacking into Trump’s campaign and supporting Biden’ campaign”.
The chief of National Intelligence has already stated yesterday that Iran is attacking Trump and helping Biden with illegal e-mails which threaten you if you do not vote for Trump.
Makes sense, right?
When I read the headline I guessed that senator was either Menendez or Schumer. They aren’t alone. If a republican had been president and proposed the same deal as the JCPOA, the democrats would have been full throated against it. The loyalty to a foreign country latched onto our underbelly has undying bipartisan support.
Not sure you’re completely right about this. For sure the Dem’s (emphatically Menendez & Schumer) are creatures of Israel; but, Trump and the Repub’s are only less so vis a vis MBS & co.
It feels to me like all the world can see the empire has no clothes. All of its foundational institutions -Press, Courts, Military, Schools, Politicians, Bureaucracy- are hopelessly corrupt. Its Constitution, Treaties, International Law and Conventions are openly and wholesale traduced. It seems so obvious it’s in final stage disintegration.
Even setting aside the fact that the US/Israel feels perfectly free to violate its commitments any time it’s convenient, given the fresh outrage of the murder of Qassem Suleimani, it’s worse than offensive for these types to be making demands on Tehran. And, mostly, the case is such that they need only hang on a little longer and the immense dark tower will sink like another Ozymandias.
Old wisdom says “it needs two to tango”. Menendez is a total idiot when he believes that significantly changing the JCPOA will be accepted by Iran to allow us back in. Iran will not even talk to a President Biden until all the US imposed restrictions which are not in the JCPOA are removed.
And what does the idiotic expression “strict compliance” mean? You either comply or do not comply and Biden will not be the judge of that. The judge is the IAEA which has over and over again reported that Iran is in compliance with JCPOA. “Strict compliance” is a well known trick to throw doubt into negotiations.
One can only hope that saner Senators than Menendez will be elected in November.
They believe that sanctions, like torture, eventually yields abject submission.
The only way Iran may consider a stricter JCPOA agreement with Biden is for US to pay $400+ billion for the economic damage that the sanctions have caused…!
Menendez never supported Obama when he did that deal, he cravenly served Israel on the issue then as he does now. He’s no more a real Democrat than was Lieberman.
If only the USA would rein in its nukes, instead of pretending that somehow Iran is a danger, we would all be better off. However, Pompass is ensuring there can be no restrictions on US terror by trying to stop the well-supported international desire for banning nukes altogether!!!
Why isn’t the child molester Menendez in prison yet?