Speaking to Israeli reporters, US Special Envoy to Iran sanctions Elliott Abrams said US talks with Iran are “inevitable” under Joe Biden, and that Biden could try to use Trump sanctions to get a new nuclear deal. He expressed doubt Biden would even be able to revive the nuclear deal as it existed previously.
That’s by design. The Trump Administration has been imposing new sanctions against Iran for months explicitly to limit Biden’s options when he takes office. Abrams says this is “unrelated to politics,” and that it would not be simple to go back to the deal anymore.
Abrams used sanctions on Iranian ambassadors as an example, saying that was unrelated to politics. He doubted Biden would try to ease sanctions, and further said he’s not clear if its politically possible.
Abrams went on to declare those sanctions “leverage,” though it’s not clear US negotiators would have any leverage at all if even the US can’t undo Trump-era sanctions. If anything, this seems an effort to solidify permanent US hostility.
“US Special Envoy to Iran…
US Special Envoy for Iran,
I suspect Biden will resort to Diplomacy in dealing with Iran.
Ambassador Abrams is a creepy old-school warmonger.
He does have that kinda evil look down pat doesn’t he?
Half the time of the original Iran deal has been wasted.
It was supposed to be time to finish further negotiations.
Instead, the US failed to deliver on half the promises made. It won’t get forgiveness of all promises and a return to what it got for now-broken promises.
At best, a new deal could be made, but it would require vast deliverables from the US, actually delivered, and delivered first. That of course is unlikely from Israel-first Banker Biden, so this is just a waste of talk.
My guess is that the deals signed with the UAE and Bahrain, to recognize Israel, have provisions against restoring JPCOA.