(NewsGlobal.com)- On Wednesday, the United States’ Iran envoy said that the chances of reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran are, at best, shaky. Washington is ready to tighten sanctions on Tehran and respond to “any Iranian escalation” with Israel and other allies if the deal cannot be saved.
U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley said in prepared testimony for Congress that we do not have a deal with Iran. He added that the United States was ready to continue to enforce and further tighten our sanctions and to respond strongly to any Iranian escalation. We will be working in concert with Israel and our regional partners.
Iran and six other major world powers came to an agreement in 2015 that was referred to as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). As part of this deal, Tehran agreed to limit its nuclear program and make it more difficult to obtain a nuclear weapon in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
Tehran has maintained that its program has only peaceful intentions for a long time.
Iran started breaking the nuclear limitations a year later when the then-president of the United States, Donald Trump, pulled out of the pact in 2018 and reinstated tough penalties.
President Joe Biden has made efforts to resurrect the agreement; however, indirect discussions in Vienna broke down in March, and it is unclear whether or not they might be revived.
Malley denounced Trump’s decision in statements intended to be delivered before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He said that the decision had not resulted in “longer and stronger” constraints on Iran’s program but somewhat “shorter and weaker” limits.
If the Iran nuclear agreement can ever be restored, there is still one major political hurdle to overcome – Iran’s demand that the US remove its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the country’s terrorist list.
According to reports, President Biden has rejected that proposal unless Iran makes a significant compromise. The White House has declined to comment, but if this becomes a sticking point that prevents the agreement from being revived, it will be a foreign-policy miscalculation.
Reactivating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action will enrage those who believe, contrary to facts and common sense, that the deal gives Iran a clear path to a bomb, as well as hard-liners who believe that if the US simply cracks down harder and harder, Iran will capitulate and agree to not only longer nuclear constraints but also to change other, non-nuclear aspects of its behavior.
