A US official speaking on the condition of anonymity told Reuters on Friday that “who goes first” to revive the Iran nuclear deal is not important.
“That’s not the issue, who goes first,” the official said. “The issue is do we agree on what steps are going to be taken mutually.” The official told Reuters that he wanted to dispel the “erroneous” notion that the Biden administration was demanding Iran’s “full compliance” with the JCPOA before the US takes steps to move towards compliance.
“It is absolutely not our position that Iran has to come into full compliance before we do anything,” he said. While the official signaled flexibility in his comments to Reuters, the Biden administration has been making very different statements publicly.
Recently, Biden officials have said they were open to talks with Iran. But early in the administration, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif floated the idea of the two countries taking mutual steps to revive the deal, but the suggestion was quickly dismissed by the US.
Before suggesting talks, US officials were calling on Iran to act first. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said the US would only lift sanctions after Iran returned to the JCPOA limits and after the Biden administration confirmed those steps.
It appears that the Biden administration is trying to blame its failure to revive the deal on Iran by framing Tehran’s hesitance to enter talks now as the Iranians playing hardball, a narrative that Western media outlets are happy to go along with.
Besides the early demands for Iran to act first, Biden officials continue to call for a stricter agreement, and the administration has imposed new sanctions on Iranian officials. Negotiating a new deal before reviving the JCPOA is a non-starter for talks with Tehran, and slapping on new sanctions failed to bring Iran to the table during the Trump administration.
Israel won’t let Harris do it.
China’s top diplomat, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, arrived in Tehran today, something may come of it, like the China-Iran strategic accord that has been talked about for months. Already China has jacked up its oil purchases from Iran. So two important countries which have been jerked around big-time lately may do some US-jerking.
Rapist. I’ll stop attacking you when you stop resisting…
That is a very good analogy.
The issue is, what steps will the parties to the Iran deal take to force the US to end sanctions. The answer is none, so there is no Iran deal to revive.
This article is interesting even more because today’s NYT carries a column by one of its megaphones for the State Dept that says the same thing. It lies. The lie may be strategic.
It says the US has only asked that Iran “commit” to compliance. Of course that is a lie. Iran has always committed, and is today committed. It had actually complied until the US reneged. That is not what the US has been demanding. That lie is in fact about the major issue.
However, this could be another way for the US to signal that it no longer demands the Iran go first. The US is not backing down, because now it pretends it never said that.
Okay, just so long as we get from stupid to the Deal again.
When has any reader seen so much print in a shortened period devoted to one foreign policy story?
Money and favors exchanged hands between Iran and US officials during and after the JCPOA agreement. President Trump’s unilateral action to cancel it may have meant the favors stopped flowing.
Under the current administration, this is likely what hovers near restarting discussions, though not exclusively.
What was Joe Biden’s negotiated take?
China Signs 25-Year Deal With Iran in Challenge to the U.S.
https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1764861/iran-zarif-china-wang-foreign-ministers.jpg?w=790&f=724aa0e6fe0390bf6adf6154138f90ac
That helps cement the fact that Iran is the only regional power in the Middle East, and along with allied regional powers China and Russia they form a powerful Eurasian triangle.
What has been obvious for a while is that Iran is now added to the already consolidated China-Russian relationship with Turkey and Pakistan. This regional framework became even more solid in the region. Russia is now providing security for Nagorno-Karabakh, and Turkish-Russian base in Azerbaijan, removed regional instability exploited by outsiders. But until US forces remain in Iraq and straddling the border with Syria — infrastructure projects and economic development will be limited.
Actually it remains to be seen how will China and Russia, along with Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, prioritize regional problems.
There is nothing to choose between Trump, Biden, Clinton, Obama, they are all controlled by the MIC. Never ending war lines the pockets of the rich and powerful.
Anything the Americans are involved in is doomed to failure for the simple fact they can`t be trusted , they have been breaking treaties / promises for 500 years .
It probably doesn’t matter anymore if the U.S.A. lifts sanctions or not. Once China makes its deal with Iran, it will become irrelavent if the U.S.A. sanctions or not. The rest of the world will work around any U.S.A sanctions, and go on to ignore whatever the U.S.A. says or does. Basically, if the the U.S.A. keeps up the world policies it has been pursuing over the past many years, it will soon make itself irrelavent on the world stage.
Even assuming only a few other regimes — for example, China, Russia, North Korea, and Venezuela — choose to trade with Iran, that’s an international market of more than 2 billion people.
India seems a little wobbly on defying US sanctions at the moment, but ultimately if they are forced to choose between all that regional trade and keeping Washington happy they’ll choose the former. That puts the market at more than 3 billion.
At some point, half the population of Earth is going to be living in a trading bloc with governments willing to tell Washington to play nice or go pound sand. And much of the rest of the world will at least be equivocating, skirting sanctions, etc.
The US regime is shooting itself in the foot, over and over. Lifting sanctions, minding its own damn business, and declaring unilateral free trade would dramatically decrease the US cost of government and dramatically increase American prosperity. The only losers would be the US political class. Which is why they’ll turn the US into the ultimate shithole country rather than go that route.
Who’s in charge of our foreign policy? They need to be replaced. We need people with a positive vision of the future not people that are doing their best to revive last century’s Cold War, a war that just might turn hot if we keep playing with fire. Let’s clean house Mister Biden.
If it does not matter who goes first then just DO IT!!!