WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration says it is ready to join talks with Iran and world powers to discuss a return to the 2015 nuclear deal, in a strong repudiation of former President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign”. tried to isolate the Islamic Republic.
The administration also took two steps at the United Nations in order to restore policy to what it was before Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018.. The combined actions were immediately criticized by Iran’s falcons and drew concern from Israel, which said it was committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
In addition to signaling a desire to speak with Iran on Thursday, the administration also reversed Trump’s decision that all UN sanctions against Iran had been restored. And it has eased strict restrictions on the domestic travel of Iranian diplomats posted to the United Nations.
The State Department announced the moves following talks between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British, French and German counterparts and as Biden prepares to attend, albeit practically, its first major international events with world leaders.
The announcement came a day before Biden spoke the leaders of the Group of Seven Industrialized Democracies and later in the day will address the Annual Security Conference in Munich. On both Fridays, Biden is expected to discuss his commitment to multilateral diplomacy and his desire to undo the damage Trump’s positions could have caused in the past four years. He expects to address the US position on the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal with Iran, the war in Afghanistan and the economic and national security challenges posed by Russia and China.
In a statement, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States would accept an invitation from the European Union to attend a meeting of participants – the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany , together with Iran – in the original nuclear agreement.
“The United States would accept an invitation from the High Representative of the European Union to attend a P5 + 1 meeting with Iran to discuss a diplomatic path to follow Iran’s nuclear program,” he said. The United States has not attended a meeting of these participants since Trump withdrew from the agreement and began to steadily intensify sanctions on Iran.
Such an invitation has not yet been issued, but is expected shortly after Blinken’s talks with British, French and German foreign ministers.
In Iran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday that the Biden administration’s action meant that the United States acknowledged that the moves made under Trump “have no legal validity.”
“We agree,” he added, urging the Biden administration to lift US sanctions “imposed, re-imposed or re-labeled by Trump.” We will immediately reverse all remedial measures. ”
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has expressed concern that “a return to the old agreement will pave Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal.” He said in a statement on Friday that he remained “committed to preventing Iran from receiving nuclear weapons” and that he was in close contact with the United States in this regard.
Meanwhile, at the United Nations, the Biden administration notified the Security Council that it had withdrawn Trump’s invocation in September 2020 of the so-called snapback mechanism, on the basis of which he claimed that all UN sanctions against Iran had been re-imposed. These sanctions included a conventional arms embargo against Iran that was about to expire.
Trump’s decision had been vigorously challenged by almost all other UN members and left the United States isolated from the world body. Thus, the reversal is unlikely to have any immediate practical effect than bringing the US back into position with the vast majority of UN members, including some of its closest allies.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Mills has sent a letter to the Security Council saying that the United States is “withdrawing” three letters from the Trump administration, culminating in the September 19 announcement that the United States has reintroduced UN sanctions on Tehran. due to “significant non-performance” with its obligations.
Trump’s move had been ignored by the rest of the Security Council and the world, and an overwhelming majority of 15-nation council members had called the action illegal because the United States was no longer a member of the nuclear deal.
At the same time, officials said the administration had reduced the extremely strict limits on the travel of Iranian diplomats accredited to the United Nations. The Trump administration has imposed severe restrictions, which have essentially limited them to the UN mission and the UN headquarters in New York.
The top rep in the Chamber’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, quickly denounced the steps. “It’s about the fact that the Biden administration is already making concessions in an apparent attempt to re-enter the flawed Iran agreement,” he said. “The Trump administration has created a lever for President Biden over Iran – we should not waste this progress.”
Earlier Thursday, Blinken and his European counterparts called on Iran to allow UN nuclear inspections to continue and to stop nuclear activities that do not have a credible civilian use. They warned that Iran’s actions could threaten delicate efforts to bring the US back to the 2015 agreement and end sanctions affecting Iran’s economy.
Iran is “playing with fire,” said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who took part in talks in Paris on Thursday with his British and French counterparts. Blinken had joined by video conference.
Iran has said it will suspend part of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspections of its nuclear facilities next week if the West fails to implement its commitments under the 2015 agreement. The agreement has erupted since Trump removed the United States from the agreement.
Blinken reiterated that “if Iran returns to strict compliance with its commitments … the United States will do the same,” according to a joint statement after Thursday’s meeting, which reflected closer transatlantic positions on Iran since President Joe Biden took over the position.
Diplomats noted the “dangerous nature of a decision to restrict access to the IAEA and urges Iran to consider the consequences of such serious action, especially at this time of renewed diplomatic opportunity.”
They said Iran’s decision to produce up to 20% enriched uranium and metallic uranium has no “unreliable” civilian use.
The 2015 agreement aims to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Tehran denies seeking such an arsenal.
“We are the ones who have kept this agreement alive in recent years, and now it’s about supporting the United States in getting back on track,” Maas told reporters in Paris.
“The measures that have been taken in Tehran and that can be taken in the coming days are only useful. They are jeopardizing the Americans’ path back to this agreement. The more pressure is exerted, the more politically difficult it will be to find a solution, “he said.
Iran’s threats are “very worrying,” said British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, stressing the need for “diplomatic re-engagement to restrict Iran and bring it back.”
Diplomats have expressed concern about human rights violations in Iran and its ballistic missile program.
In Iran, President Hassan Rouhani expressed hope on Thursday that the Biden administration will adhere to the agreement and lift US sanctions that Washington has re-imposed under Trump, according to state television.
Tehran has used violations of its nuclear deal to put pressure on other signatories – France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China – to provide more incentives for Iran to compensate for crippling sanctions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Council President spoke with Rouhani this week to try to end the diplomatic opposition. The IAEA chief is scheduled to travel to Iran this weekend to find a solution that will allow the agency to continue inspections.
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Edith M. Lederer contributed to the United Nations, Geir Moulson to Berlin and Angela Charlton and Masha Macpherson to Paris.