Reuters: Biden Administration Seeks to Revive Step-by-Step JCPOA

The return of the United States to the nuclear agreement and Iran’s return to JCPOA commitments, despite media messages from both countries, has reached an impasse. The Biden administration is reportedly seeking to implement a step-by-step policy to revive the JCPOA in order to break out of this deadlock.

The issue of the United States’ return to the nuclear agreement is considered one of the major foreign policy challenges for the Joe Biden administration. Three informed sources told Reuters that the Biden administration is “seeking to buy time by pursuing a policy of gradual resolution of disputes”.

The goal of implementing a step-by-step nuclear agreement revival policy has been stated as neutralizing the consequences of Donald Trump’s policy of withdrawing America from this agreement.

It was stated that the United States’ withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018 has brought the Islamic Republic “closer to the stage of acquiring nuclear weapons”.

Anthony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, also recently warned of the danger of Iran’s imminent acquisition of nuclear weapons.

Based on the new policy of the U.S. government, the Iranian government could benefit from some of the economic advantages of the nuclear agreement.

Reuters reported that Iran’s level of access to economic benefits under this policy would be lower than when the nuclear agreement was signed. In return, the Islamic Republic would also be required to return to the commitments stipulated in the nuclear agreement.

Reuters further reported in its coverage that Joe Biden has not yet made a definitive decision regarding Iran. Until now, he had conditioned America’s commitment to obligations arising from the nuclear agreement on Iran’s full return to JCPOA commitments.

This is while the Islamic Republic had also announced that Iran would only return to implementing its JCPOA commitments once the United States has lifted sanctions.

One of the informed sources mentioned told Reuters that the reason for adopting a step-by-step JCPOA revival policy is that the United States considers resolving disputes with the Islamic Republic over Iran’s nuclear activities to be a time-consuming matter.

Therefore, implementing such a policy could prevent escalation of tensions between the United States and Iran and provide the necessary time for both parties to reach this agreement.

Source: DW