Error occured during this request! Please try again later.
Iran
An Iranian flag flutters at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant on November 10, 2019. Photo: Atta Kenare/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — One of the most senior officials in US President-elect Joe Biden’s administration has signaled that Washington sees rejoining the 2015 Iran nuclear deal as “feasible and achievable” option and a way of curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Jack Sullivan, who is nominated to act as national security adviser said that the new administration plans to put Iran “back into the box” by rejoining the deal and adhering to its terms.
“We think that it is feasible and achievable,” Sullivan told Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Matt Murray during its CEO Council summit on Monday.
Iran has been under extreme economic pressure, mostly as a result of the crippling sanctions that were re-imposed following the US unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal by President Donald Trump in May 2018.
Tehran has taken several steady measures in scaling back on its commitment as a reaction to the US’ withdrawal and President Hassan Rouhani’s government has repeatedly said that Tehran would adhere to the terms of the deal if sanctions – labelled an “economic war” by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif - are lifted.
This isn’t the first time Sullivan has signaled Biden’s readiness to rejoin the deal
“If Iran returns to compliance, for its obligations that it has been violating, and is prepared to advance good-faith negotiations on these follow-on agreements,” Mr Biden is willing to do the same, Sullivan said on November 25 at the University of Minnesota.
Sullivan’s new comments follows a joint statement from France, Germany and United Kingdom, calling on Iran to avoid jeopardizing the nuclear deal by scrapping new measures, including uranium enrichment threatened by a recent parliamentary bill and the installation of new centrifuges at Natanz plant.
“Iran’s recent announcement to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) …is contrary to the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions] JCPOA and deeply worrying,” read a statement from the three European countries, adding that if the parliamentary bill is implemented, it “would be incompatible with the JCPOA and Iran’s wider nuclear commitments.”
“Such a move [by Iran] would jeopardise our shared efforts to preserve the JCPOA and risks compromising the important opportunity for a return to diplomacy with the incoming US Administration,” read the statement, describing the JCPOA as a “key achievement of multilateral diplomacy.”
US sanctions have divided Iran, with hardliners up in arms against Rouhani’s government and those in favour of further negotiation with the West, particularly the United States.
The assassination of the country’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on November 27 reportedly by Israeli intelligence, has angered many who are now calling for revenge and cutting ties with the West.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment