Blinken: No Sign Iran Will Accept Demands for Sanction Relief

Says Iran must comply with commitments

Secretary of State Tony Blinken downplayed the chances of nuclear progress with Iran on Sunday, saying the US has seen no sign Iran will comply with the assorted US demands related to sanctions relief.

To be clear, Iran was complying with the terms of the nuclear deal for years, and has said they will do so again if the US meets its sanctions relief obligations. The US has made no effort to do this, and is demanding Iran go first in meeting all US requirements before any of Iran’s needs are discussed.

All of this gives the impression that this is a deal the US doesn’t really intend to make, and is being orchestrated such that they can try to sell the non-deal as purely Iran’s fault.

Despite this, Blinken did say there was “progress” made in the talks with Iran is Austria, without going into detail on that. Iranian officials are clear they don’t trust the US to keep its word after reneging on the deal, and many are leery of going down the road of acting first again, expecting good faith not to be rewarded in the long run.

Ironically, both sides have effectively granted they’d do everything they agreed to, but neither side is willing to go first.The US has also hinted that they want even more from Iran under the pact,. As usual, the signs are that cooperating to get a deal done is not in anyone’s interest.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.