Biden 'wants to have it both ways' on Iran: Analyst

A political commentator says the administration of US President Joe Biden intends to remove a fraction of sanctions against Iran but to keep the majority of them in place, arguing that Washington’s insistence on classification of the bans to those related to the 2015 nuclear deal and others has made negotiations to revive the agreement lengthier and more complex.

“The Biden regime wants to have it both ways and is kicking the can down the road,” American journalist and writer Max Parry told Press TV in an interview on Saturday.

He pointed out that the window of opportunity in order to restore the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is unfortunately narrowing, especially as Iran is gearing up for the upcoming presidential election which will be held on June 18. 

“All this is taking place despite the fact that it was [former US president Donald] Trump’s administration which withdrew from the JCPOA, and re-imposed the sanctions that had been lifted by the nuclear deal,” Parry pointed out.

Russian, American diplomats held ‘very useful’ discussion on full JCPOA restoration: Envoy

A senior Russian diplomat says his team had a ‘very useful’ discussion with the Americans on the full restoration of the Iran nuclear deal.

The pundit highlighted that Tehran has made it clear that it will not fully return to obligations under the 2015 nuclear pact unless all sanctions, either targeting its economic sector or individuals, are removed in one go, calling on US officials to seize the chance and revive the JCPOA.

“So if Biden wants to score a foreign policy victory by ostensibly saving the agreement, he should stop appeasing the Iran hawks he has surrounded himself within his cabinet, and commit to the so-called new era of diplomacy he pledged as a candidate,” Parry said.

He concluded that Biden’s procrastination on Iran policy attests to the fact that Washington is no longer able to accurately assess its own position as a playmaker, and that US leaders should realize Washington no longer dominates the world as it once did and the international community is becoming increasingly multi-polar.

The Biden administration’s officials have denied they will remove all non-nuclear sanctions imposed on Iran.

Spokesman: Temporary agreement not on agenda of Vienna talks, Iran does not want lengthy negotiations

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman says a temporary agreement on how to revive Iran’s nuclear deal not on the agenda of the ongoing Vienna talks.

“Any return to the JCPOA would require sanctions relief, but we are considering removing only those sanctions that are inconsistent with the JCPOA,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price.

He added, “Even if we rejoin the JCPOA — which remains a hypothetical — we would retain and continue to implement sanctions on Iran for activities not covered by the JCPOA, including Iran’s missile proliferation, support for terrorism, and human rights abuses.”

The United States, under Trump, left the JCPOA signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in May 2018, restoring the economic sanctions that the landmark agreement had lifted and imposing new non-nuclear ones.

Tehran responded to the noncompliance of the US with the deal through remedial nuclear measures that it is entitled to take under the JCPOA’s Paragraph 36.

After a change of the US administration, President Joe Biden claimed that Washington was ready to rejoin the deal.

Iran, Russia, China: US must lift sanctions all at once as prerequisite to rejoining JCPOA

Senior Iranian, Russian and Chinese diplomats say the removal of all US sanctions against Tehran is a prerequisite for Washington’s return to the JCPOA.

The Islamic Republic has insisted that it would only stop its remedial measures once the US removed all the sanctions in one step and after Iran has verified that the sanctions removal has actually taken place.

The US so far failed to meet Iran’s conditions.

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