Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi addressed the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday and said his country is serious about reviving the nuclear deal and questioned the US commitment to the agreement.
The Iranian leader’s address came as talks to revive the deal, known as the JCPOA, have stalled, and the US has accused Tehran of not taking the negotiations seriously. Raisi said that the UN would need to make a commitment to the deal, so it doesn’t withdraw from it again as the Trump administration did in 2018.
“Our wish is only one thing: commitment, observance of commitments,” Raisi said. “Can we truly trust without guarantees and assurances that [the US] will this time live up to their commitment?”
Guarantees have been a major sticking point as President Biden doesn’t have the power to ensure that a future administration would stay in the deal. What exactly Raisi wants from the US when it comes to guarantees isn’t clear.
During negotiations with the previous Iranian government, Iran asked President Biden if he could guarantee that the US wouldn’t leave the JCPOA again just during his term in office, but Biden refused, and the talks failed.
On Tuesday, Raisi held talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the JCPOA. But there’s been no sign that US and Iranian officials have spoken, and the US has said it doesn’t expect a “breakthrough” on the issue during the assembly.
The eternal Amerikan fall-back. ‘Well, the next election is less than 4 years from now. Be lucky if Amerika honours its word for that long. YOUR obligations, however……’.