A lot of forces are at work to sabotage a future Biden administration’s attempts to reenter the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Officials from Israel and Gulf states hostile to Iran are warning Joe Biden against rejoining the JCPOA.
In an interview with Axios, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani said he expects Biden to consult with Bahrain and other Gulf countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia before moving towards a new nuclear deal with Iran.
“Any nation concerned by Iran’s belligerence should, and will, make their case,” al-Zayani said. “We will certainly make our views known. We have a close and open dialog with the United States, so I am sure that other regional states will make these concerns absolutely clear.”
Al-Zayani said any new deal should not only cover Iran’s nuclear program but also its activity in the region, and its ballistic missile program. Iran has made it clear they would not negotiate a new deal until the US provided sanction relief and returns to the JCPOA.
Al-Zayani made the comments from Israel, making him the first Bahraini government minister to visit the country, a trip made possible by Bahrain’s decision to normalize relations with Israel. The agreement, known as the Abrams Accords, was also signed by the UAE and seen by some as a way to isolate Iran.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was also in Israel and held a trilateral meeting with al-Zayani and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During the meeting, Pompeo said the normalization agreements “tell malign actors like the Islamic Republic of Iran that … they are ever-more isolated and shall forever be until they change their direction.”
Israeli officials told Axios that they hope the normalization agreements with Bahrain in the UAE will help form a united line to Biden on a new Iran deal. Two officials said Israel is planning a strategy to influence the Biden administration on Iran.
According to the officials, Israel’s foreign ministry formed a special team led by Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi to influnce Biden’s negotiations with Iran. Ashkenazi told a Knesset hearing last week that the team will try to convince Biden to link nuclear issues with Iran’s regional behavior and missile program, the same issues Bahrain wants to be addressed.
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, a former ambassador to the US, chimed in on the Iran issue. Faisal also warned Biden against rejoining the JCPOA. He said reentering the agreement would “would not do service to stability in our region.” Biden has said he would return to the JCPOA as a starting point for more negotiations, an idea Faisal rejected.
“Rejoining and then negotiating the other important issues would trap diplomacy and subject it to Iranian blackmail,” Faisal said.
The Trump administration is planning to sanction Iran as much as possible in the coming weeks to make it difficult for Biden to rejoin the JCPOA. Recent reports that said President Trump reviewed options to strike Iran’s nuclear program raised fears the administration could go as far as to provoke a military confrontation to tie Biden’s hands.
For their part, Iran seems willing to return to the JCPOA if Biden lifts sanctions. “If Mr. Biden is willing to fulfill US commitments, we too can immediately return to our full commitments in the accord,” Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said.
Indeed, stability in the region is not just about nuclear weapons concerns (which Iran does not have but Israel does), it’s about conventional arms and a willingness to use them both covertly and overtly, all things the Middle East region is brimming with rather universally. Those despots who whine about the imperative of stability really mean they expect to receive massive amounts of weapons of all sorts from the US, along with diplomatic support or at least indifference whenever those despots choose to use those weapons on their own people, vilified nations like Iran, or anyone they can claim has a tenuous connection to Iran like the Houthis.
We need a “nuclear-free middle east” as the next step towards a nuclear-free world, no more arms sales or gifts to the region, and full US troop withdrawal. That’s essential to getting less bloodshed and more democracy over the long-term.
We will be gifting those weapons to the next revolutionary Islamic Republics when those same leaders wake up murdered in their beds.
And I’m all for it!
1. Iran is not belligerent, has attacked no country for centuries.
2. Israel already has so much influence-surely they can opt out from time to time from complaining.
3. Biden will be lucky to get back to the JCPOA, pay what the USA owes Iran and shut up about “changes” which of course Trump wanted, without worrying about the whinging “allies” who keep pretending Iran is a terrible threat.
He’ll cave… Forgone conclusion.
Addled-brain Biden will be pressured–and he will fold. That’s America’s default position vis-a-vis the Jewish Only State.