With Joe Biden taking office this week, Iran sent a clear message yesterday (Friday) regarding the nuclear program: “We are interested in returning to the nuclear deal just as it was signed in 2015. Do not demand new conditions from us.” The remarks appeared in a special article published by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Juad Zarif in the American journal Foreign Affairs.
“The new administration in Washington has an important and crucial decision to make,” Zarif wrote. “They need to decide whether to back down from the failed policy of former President Donald Trump, and return to the agreement they signed with us in the past.” Zarif referred to the “maximum pressure” policy that President Trump exerted on Iran, during which he imposed a very long list of economic sanctions against it, which significantly harmed it but said it did not have any effect on it in terms of its nuclear and military progress.
Joe Biden is sworn in as US President (Photo: Reuters)
“The United States can not withdraw in 2018 from the agreement it signed in 2015, and then in 2021. Ask to sign a new agreement,” Zarif continued. Iran on an improved nuclear deal than the one signed in 2015.
With the election of Biden, senior regime officials in Iran have announced that they will not be ready for any new negotiations. In addition, Iran clarified that the removal of all sanctions imposed by President Trump is a necessary condition for Iran’s return to the original nuclear deal. According to various reports, Biden’s administration officials, many of whom held key positions in the Obama administration and took part in drafting the nuclear deal, met with senior Iranian officials even before taking office this week.