In the midst of tensions over compliance with the Iranian nuclear pact, the president of the United States offered Tehran to resume talks on the issue. Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 from the agreement reached in 2015 by five major powers.
In 2018, Donald Trump made the most risky move in foreign policy: he dealt a fatal blow to the nuclear pact with Iran, reached in 2015 by Germany, China, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia. In just eleven minutes, the former US president ended more than two and a half years of difficult negotiations.
On Thursday, the new US President, Joe Biden, officially offered Iran to resume talks on the nuclear issue.
What is the Biden commercial?
U.S. President Joe Biden has officially offered to resume nuclear talks with Iran, CNN and the newspaper reported on Thursday New York Times.
According to the newspaper, which quoted a State Department statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with European foreign ministers and stressed that the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, from which former President Donald Trump withdrew the US. “Key achievement of multilateral diplomacy.” Since arriving at the White House on January 20, Biden had insisted that Iran abide by the terms of the agreement to consider reversing Trump’s decision to withdraw from the agreement.
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JCPOA, signed in 2015 between Iran and six major powers (US, Russia, China, France, UK and Germany) has been greatly weakened since in 2018 the US government of Donald Trump decided to withdraw its country from it and imposes sanctions on Tehran.
In response, Iran has begun to gradually reduce its commitments and has recently started producing 20% enriched uranium and metallic uranium, in violation of the pact. The next step, which will take place on 21 February, was the suspension of the so-called Additional Protocol, which allows inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit any Iranian civilian or military nuclear facility without prior notice.
What is the US position?
“Total respect in exchange for full respect”: this is how the Democrat sums up the conditional return to the 2015 agreement, which should prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
In other words, he is willing to re-sign the agreement and thus lift the draconian sanctions imposed by his Republican predecessor. But only when Tehran again assumes the nuclear restrictions set out in the text.
However, the Islamic Republic, which has begun to ignore these commitments precisely in response to US sanctions, is calling on Washington to lift all these punitive measures first.
Why the ad now?
Time is running out against the agreement because, according to the Iranian authorities, they have issued an ultimatum to enrich uranium, beyond the limits set in the nuclear pact. “We hope that these errors will be corrected as soon as possible and that the new US administration will abide by law and resolution 2231,” which validated the nuclear pact, known as the JCPOA in its English acronym, said Iranian President Hasan Rohaní. .
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The Iranian president also said in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Iran was unwilling to accept changes to the agreement, as the US and European parties suggested adding other issues, such as the Persian ballistic missile program.
“The only way to maintain the agreement is to lift the inhuman and illegal sanctions of the United States and return the country to the pact,” he said.
To try to calm the spirits and persuade the Iranian government not to limit international inspections to its nuclear facilities, IAEA Director Rafael Grossi of Argentina will travel to Iran on Saturday.
What has Iran stopped doing?
“Most of the violations” of Iran’s agreement so far, especially in the area of uranium enrichment, “can be quickly reversed,” says Kelsey Davenport of the Association for Arms Control. Several experts suggest a period of less than three months.
“But the violations that Iran has planned for the coming months are more serious” and “more difficult to reverse,” warns Davenport. Starting with inspections, because “any loss of access” to Iranian sites “will fuel speculation about Iran’s illicit activities.”
And in June, the Iranian election could complicate matters if the hardliners win.
February 21 is fast approaching and “it is imperative that diplomacy begins”, a former European Union (EU) diplomat is alarmed. “The idea is to make sure that this threshold is not crossed by then,” agrees a European source, stressing that it would also be a “red line for Russia and China.”
Jon Wolfsthal, who advised Biden on these issues when he was vice president, says the United States and Iran “are considering, before 21, a statement that shows their mutual intention to return to the agreement.”
Call Biden and Netanyahu
This week, Iran was the focus of the first conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and new US President Joe Biden.
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Biden’s delay in contacting Netanyahu, who had a good relationship with his predecessor Donald Trump, drew criticism from the Israeli press and several Republican lawmakers in Washington.
“The conversation was warm, friendly and lasted about an hour,” Netanyahu said on Twitter, noting that the two leaders addressed issues such as the “peace agreements” in the Middle East, the “Iranian threat” and the management of the pandemic. covid19. “Good conversation,” Biden summed up in the oval office.
The two leaders stressed “the importance of holding close consultations on regional security issues, especially Iran,” the White House said, without mentioning the thorny understanding of Tehran’s nuclear program.
Biden reaffirmed US support for the recent normalization of relations between Israel and several countries in the Arab world. The United Arab Emirates announced in August the resumption of its relations with the Jewish country, a decision that Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco subsequently followed.
Europe and business
The other European powers that participated in the nuclear deal called on the United States to take steps to address the issue with Iran. They also called on Tehran to honor its uranium enrichment commitments and not to limit international inspections to its nuclear facilities.
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Their four-party meeting served to warn Iran that reducing cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors would be “dangerous”, so they called on the country to consider the impact of such a “serious” measure. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian hosted a meeting in Paris of his British counterparts, Dominic Raab, and his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined electronically.
The four Western powers have stated their goal of “seeing Iran return to fulfilling its commitments” in accordance with the 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, according to a joint statement released after the meeting.
Officials highlighted their common interest in “maintaining the nuclear non-proliferation regime and ensuring that Iran can never acquire a nuclear weapon,” according to the note.
France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States have also expressed “common concern” over Iran’s recent decision to produce 20% enriched uranium and metallic uranium, which is a “key step in the development of a nuclear weapon.” ”.
“Secretary of State Blinken recalled that, as (US President Joe) Biden had said, if Iran strictly fulfilled its commitments (…), the United States would do the same and would be willing to start talks with Iran to reach “.