Well, that didn’t take long. With Joe Biden presumed to be the next United States president, Iran is already refusing to renegotiate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran Deal, which President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018 in favour of tougher sanctions.
Trump’s “maximum pressure” approach has severely hurt Iran, both economically and militarily. One would think, then, that Iran would jump at the chance to get back in the deal, especially since Biden has already expressed his desire to do so.
But there’s a hitch: Biden has his own conditions. Veteran Middle East commentator Tom O’Connor stated: “Biden has pledged to return, but only if Iran restored some of the commitments it has since walked away from due to other participants’ failure to normalise trade ties with the Islamic Republic in the wake of the US exit.”
These commitments include “restricting uranium enrichment back down to 3.67 per cent, halting production at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, and [stopping the installation] of advanced centrifuges”.
Quoting Biden’s official foreign policy page, O’Connor added: “If Tehran returns to compliance with the deal, president Biden would re-enter the agreement, using hard-nosed diplomacy and support from our allies to strengthen and extend it, while more effectively pushing back against Iran’s other destabilising activities.”
Read the article by David Suissa in The Australian.