Biden administration officials are signaling that the US and Iran are close to reaching an agreement to revive the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, The New York Times reported on Monday.
The JCPOA negotiations that have been ongoing in Vienna are currently on pause as diplomats have returned to their capitals for consultations. Envoys on all sides have signaled the talks are entering their final stage and that now “political decisions” need to be made.
Even though the Biden administration has maintained a hardline stance towards Iran, US officials are putting the responsibility to revive the JCPOA on Iranian leadership. A senior State Department official told reporters on Monday that if Iran is willing to make the necessary “decisions” quickly, the US can “see a path to a deal.”
The official wouldn’t detail what the major sticking points are between the US and Iran. An Iranian official said Monday that there are still “significant issues” regarding the removal of sanctions to resolve. Iran is also seeking guarantees that the US won’t withdraw from the deal again.
If President Biden decides to give Iran the necessary sanctions relief to revive the JCPOA, he will come under a significant amount of political pressure. Virtually every Republican and some hawkish Democrats are against the deal. But the State Department official said Biden is willing “to make the political decisions necessary to achieve that goal.”
The US stance on the talks is more positive than it has been, but Biden officials are still warning that time is running out on the negotiations. The US claims that the JCPOA will no longer be a viable deal after a certain point, but there are no real time constraints since Iran can reduce its nuclear activity at any point.
This is just getting surreal. Yesterday Iran pointed out that the two main reasons for the negotiation – sanctions relief and a guarantee the US would adhere to the deal – are still being withheld by the US. Today the US, to cover its butt, says “Oh, things are going great – it’s just Iran that’s being unreasonable.”
What a joke.
Whenever the US wants to revive the deal, all they have to do is start respecting it’s promises and stop attacking Iran’s economy. Europe should sanction the US until then, respecting their allies in the JCPOA.
“Virtually every Republican and some hawkish Democrats are against the deal.”
I’d say virtually every democrat is also against the deal. If Trump or a republican had initiated the deal the roles would be reversed. I mean does anyone believe the likes of Shumer(D-Israel) is for the deal?