In Iran standoff, Biden says U.S. won't unilaterally lift sanctions
08 February, 2021
U.S. President Joe Biden possesses made clear he'll not unilaterally lift up sanctions against Iran, expressing it must first stick to its nuclear offer commitments despite requirements on Sunday from the Islamic Republic's supreme innovator.
The exchange underscored the thorny diplomatic challenge in advance as Biden seeks to regenerate -- without showing weakness -- an integral accord rejected by his predecessor Donald Trump.
Asked in a CBS interview airing Sunday whether he would halt sanctions to convince Iran to return to the bargaining table, Biden presented a clear reply: "No."
The journalist then asked if the Iranians would first need to stop enriching uranium, which drew an affirmative nod from Biden.
The clip was part of an extended interview aired soon after Sunday on CBS.
The landmark deal was reached in 2015 by america and other powers (China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain) following very long negotiations with Iran targeted at preventing it from growing nuclear weapons.
The offer has been hanging by a thread since Trump's decision to withdraw from it in 2018 and reimpose sanctions on Tehran.
Trump argued that the accord didn't sufficiently restrict Iran's nuclear system and he complained of its "destabilizing" actions in the region.
Trump resumed the U.S. sanctions on Tehran that were lifted through the accord, and he pressed reluctant allies to do the same.
Tehran a year later on suspended its compliance with most key nuclear commitments.
The Biden administration has expressed willingness to come back to the deal, but insisted that Tehran first resume full compliance.
On January 4, Iran announced it has stepped up its uranium enrichment process to 20 percent purity, far above the 3.67 percent level permitted by the offer, but far below the total amount necessary for an atomic bomb.
Biden has promised to return to the agreement -- but only on the problem that Iran initially renew its original commitments.
Since Biden's inauguration on January 20, the international community has been eager to learn how he would keep his guarantee -- complicated by Iran's insistence that the sanctions be lifted initial.
The standoff became clearer on Sunday, with Biden digging in his heels and the supreme Iranian leader Ali Khamenei also showing no flexibility.
"If indeed they want Iran to return to its commitments... the United States must entirely lift the sanctions, used and not in writing," the ayatollah explained Sunday in a televised speech.
"We will verify if actually the sanctions had been lifted correctly," he continued, adding that was "the definitive insurance plan of the Islamic Republic."
The Biden administration has remained intentionally vague about how it plans to go ahead -- so much in order that the president completely ignored this issue Thursday in his first speech on foreign policy since taking office.
But Secretary of Talk about Antony Blinken spoke Fri along with his German, French and British counterparts to provide a united front with the three European signatories to the nuclear deal which have denounced Trump's unilateral withdrawal.
They face a good deadline: Iran has threatened to bar international inspectors from its nuclear sites on Feb 21 if the U.S. sanctions have got not been lifted.
Source: japantoday.com