The Biden administration said on Thursday it would agree to meet with Iran and other world powers involved in negotiating the 2015 nuclear deal, the first public step toward renewed diplomacy with Tehran. State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States would “accept an invitation” from the European Union’s top diplomat to attend the meeting of the original signatories to the nuclear deal “to discuss the diplomatic way forward on Iran’s nuclear program.” No meeting has been decided yet, but the High Commissioner of the European Union, Josep Borrell, indicated that he was ready to invite the parties to participate in the talks. The nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was negotiated by the United States with Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom, and a Foreign Ministry official, while briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said that the United States would be represented at the conference. Meeting with Biden’s special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley. Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018, saying it had not gone far enough to curb Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for terrorist groups in the region. President Joe Biden had long promised to try to revive the Iran nuclear deal, and his advisers said the administration’s first priority would be Tehran has been banned from obtaining a nuclear weapon, but Biden and his Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, have repeatedly said that the United States will only join the deal – and lift the tough sanctions imposed by Trump. Administration – If Iran first returns to compliance with the deal, Iran has complied with the deal for months, even as the Trump administration’s sanctions have affected its economy. But the regime began to violate the terms of the agreement in 2019, by enriching uranium to levels higher than those stipulated in the 2015 agreement. Republicans pressured the Biden administration to use US sanctions as a means of pressure to obtain a broader deal that limits Iran’s aggressive measures in the region. They were quick to criticize Thursday’s announcement. “It’s about the Biden administration already making concessions in an apparent effort to re-enter the flawed Iran deal,” said Representative Michael McCall, a senior Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “We need to secure a better deal that keeps the American people safe from the full range of malign Iranian threats,” McCool said in a statement. The State Department official rejected any suggestion that agreeing to a meeting with Iran is a concession. “This … is not in itself a breakthrough,” the official told reporters on Thursday that the talks would be the first step toward urging Iran to return to compliance. “Until we sit down and talk, nothing will happen … It will turn from bad to worse.” The surprise announcement comes just days before the February 21 deadline set by the Iranian parliament, for another breach. Tehran has pledged to suspend some inspections of its nuclear sites by UN nuclear inspectors – a key clause of the deal – and to increase uranium enrichment unless the United States moves to join the accord. Exclusive: An Iranian diplomat said Biden was “ closing the window. ” On Thursday, the Biden administration also lifted the travel restrictions preventing Iranian diplomats from attending meetings at the United Nations in New York, and it was unclear whether Thursday’s announcement would be enough for Iran to drop its threat to block UN inspectors. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, called on European leaders to pressure the United States to lift its sanctions. “Instead of sophistry and placing the burden on Iran, the European Union should” demand an end to Trump’s legacy of economic terrorism, Zarif wrote on Twitter. Against Iran. ”He added,“ … remove the cause if you fear the impact. ”“ We will continue working with the action. ”Contribution: Kim Helmegaard
The US agrees to meet just days before the deadline
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