Robert Malley, President Biden’s special envoy for Iran, said Wednesday that the US is prepared to compromise on “difficult issues” related to the nuclear deal if Tehran was willing to do the same, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
The indirect negotiations between the US and Iran to revive the JCPOA have been on hold since Ebrahim Raisi was elected as Iran’s president. Malley said he hopes the new government comes to the negotiating table “with a realistic approach.”
Raisi is viewed as a hardliner, but he has endorsed a JCPOA revival if the US is willing to return to its commitments. The Biden administration’s refused to lift all Trump-era sanctions on Iran, forcing Tehran to make a significant concession by entering negotiations.
Raisi’s predecessor Hassan Rouhani said the US and Iran reached an agreement that would entail the US lifting most major sanctions. But the two sides ultimately couldn’t finalize the deal. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed additional US demands for the stalled talks.
Khamenei said in July that the US wanted to add a sentence to the JCPOA that would commit Iran to enter follow-on negotiations on other issues, such as Iran’s ballistic missile program. “By putting this sentence, they want to provide an excuse for their further interventions on the principle of [the deal] and missile program and regional issues,” he said. “If Iran refuses to discuss them, they will say that you have violated the agreement and the agreement is over.”
For the Iranian side, they want the US to provide guarantees that it would not withdraw from the JCPOA again. Tehran also seeks verification methods for sanctions relief. Khamenei said that the US did not want to commit to either condition.
Malley’s comments suggest that the US might be willing to discuss these issues, but it’s unclear when the talks will restart. Biden is also under a lot of pressure not to give Iran sanctions relief from Israel and Iran hawks in Congress. It’s unlikely he is willing to take a stand on this issue, especially as he is under fire for his Afghanistan withdrawal.
I can understand Iran’s reluctance to proceed Washington is highly unlikely to stop punitive actions against Iran as long as AIPAC controls Congress.
Narrative building … “you see, we did everything we could to compromise and they just refused to meet us halfway”.
You took the words right out of my mouth. I’ll believe it only when I see it.
And you’re never going to see it.
Here we go again. Iran is likely happy to just buy time, … and maybe Biden is too.
Buy time to keep Israel from attacking Iran. The very minute Iran signs the document, Israel will find some little detail as excuse to attack. Israel has attacked in the form of bombing facilities, killing scientists. No matter. Our politicians are scared to death of AIPAC.
Having broken its word, the US is willing to compromise by giving less than promised in return for more than it accepted.
That is not compromise. That is cheating. Even children would not try that on a playground. No nation would do that, and the US must know that even as it pretends to offer it.
This is another good point – that the US of A has zero credibility regarding any agreement.
As of 2021, you’d have to be a damned fool to trust The Most Exceptional Nation any way, shape, or form.
It’s political gangsterism. Goes something like this: Look fella, here’s the deal, I’m already choking you, so you do this for me and I’ll refrain from breaking you knees.
This demonstrates that whatever their preferences, Iran has only one real choice — get the Bomb ASAP.
They are in a corner, and they need to deal with that.
As Israel announces its fears for the umpteenth time over the last 20 years, we must hear they’ve made this the necessary only possible outcome. It is their own doing, their own choice, their own fault.
Totally agree; Iran would be foolish not to get the Bomb, despite their not wanting to because it is against their religion (which proves they are more honorable than the US could ever hope to be — and, of course, they completely lived up to their commitment on the JCPOA before Trump egregiously ended it). Unless they want to become like Gaddafi after he gave up his nuclear weapons, getting the Bomb is sadly the only way for Iran to stop the terrorists and thugs known as Israel and the US Military.
“Iran hawks in Congress” – you could probably count the non-Iran hawks in Congress with 10 fingers or less. That burning image of Netanyahu getting the joint session of Congress jumping to their feet like a fanatical Reichstag, showed exactly which nation in the world dictates our Middle East policy.
“you could probably count the non-Iran hawks in Congress with 10 fingers or less.”
I betcha they stood too. AIPAC was watching.
Eight months late and a dollar short.
The US created the “difficult issues” they had nothing to do with Iran and the other members of the JCPOA.
As for the ballistic missiles, maybe if the US and Israel stopped assasinating Iranian military generals and scientists, they wouldn’t find out how effective thoase missiles are.
Thanks for sharing video. From the video: “Marine general Frank Mckenzie, commander of US forces in the middle east, monitored attack on Soleimani from Tampa Florida; only two people in chain of command were higher than Mckenzie: the Secretary of Defense and the President. McKenzie said: “The blood of many Americans is on the hands of Soleimani – during American occupation of Iraq Soleimani ordered attacks which killed 600 US troops. McKenzie said he “was good with the decision” to kill Soleimani. McKenzie gave the kill order to the commander controlling the drones.”
What a sick, twisted psychopath. These are our “generals”.
That one tiny office in the Dpt. of Treasury in Washington DC that is managed by a woman of Israeli – US dual citizenship can wield the kind of power to starve entire countries is astonishing and must end. The rest of the world _must_ find a way to freely trade, engage in commerce and have bank accounts that cannot be frozen by this wicked office and stop allowing this office to hold the rest of the world hostage.
The answer to this is simple lift all the sanctions has promised .