Joe Biden weighs easing of sanctions to save Iran nuke deal

The Biden administration is considering offering Iran sanctions relief as America seeks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

US President Joe Biden after visiting Holy Trinity Church in the Georgetown neighbourhood of Washington on Sunday. Picture: AFP

The Biden administration is considering offering Iran sanctions relief as America seeks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

President Joe Biden fired the starting gun on re-entering the deal, known as the joint comprehensive plan of action late last week with a statement declaring that America is willing to sit down for an “informal meeting” with the Iranians, which would be hosted by the EU and also attended by Britain, Russia and China.

The Iranians have demanded relief from crippling Trump-era sanctions — which they claim have cost them more than $US150bn ($191bn) — as a price for returning to negotiations.

There are indications that sanctions relief is on the way, though the Biden administration insists it wants a sit-down first. “Sanctions relief is definitely coming,” said one well-placed national security source. “Not today or tomorrow. But it is coming.”

On Saturday AEDT, White House press secretary Jen Psaki, did not rule out the possibility of relief but emphasised “there is no plan to take additional steps” ahead of a “diplomatic conversation” with Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran said on Sunday that it had held “fruitful discussions” with ­visiting International Atomic Energy Agency chief ­Rafael Grossi.

Negotiating with Iran and lifting America’s economic chokehold would mark the Biden administration’s most decisive break yet with Trump-era foreign policy. It would steer America back to the path it was on during the Obama years, when it sought to reshape Middle Eastern politics by negotiating with Iran despite the objections of its regional allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Mr Biden’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, were key figures in the 2015 deal.

Now they are preparing to undo Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran by returning to the negotiating table. Some advocates of the JCPOA argue that because it was Mr Trump who reneged on the deal. It is up to Mr Biden to show goodwill.

“As the party who reneged on its obligations and brought the agreement to its sorry state, the onus is on the US to take steps [to] demonstrate to Iran it is a reliable negotiating partner,” said Ali Vaez, director of the Iran project at the International Crisis Group which was led by Mr Malley until he became special envoy. “It is hard to imagine anything short of a meaningful economic reprieve would get Iran’s attention.”

Prominent European countries — the “E3” of Britain, Germany and France — have remained in the JCPOA, keeping a path open for America to return.

Yet the process will not be straightforward: Iran has repeatedly violated the agreement since America unilaterally pulled out in 2018, stepping up its enrichment of uranium in recent months, and has said it will bar international inspectors from visiting undeclared nuclear facilities as soon as Sunday. Iran also escalated its proxy activities in the Middle East last week as a Shia militia laun­ched a rocket attack on US facilities at the airport in Arbil, Iraq.

The US has demanded Iran begin complying with the deal again before sanctions are lifted, something the Iranians have shown no inclination to do.

This standoff — sanctions relief vs. compliance with the nuclear deal — will have to be resolved before talks can begin.

“The Biden administration want to go back into the deal but are struggling with the conditions in which they would do so,” said Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice-president at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, a right-wing think tank that opposes the Iran deal. “They’ve said they want to go back into the deal but won’t do anything until the Iranians show goodwill. Which means the administration is coming off somewhat schizophrenic.”

Much as the Obama administration did in 2015, Mr Biden faces domestic and foreign roadblocks to a settlement, with Republicans and hawkish Democrats demanding a more robust deal with Iran.

Mr Blinken has indicated this time America will seek limitations on Iran’s ability to use ballistic missiles, plus curbs on its support for terror groups in the region and the Assad government in Syria, all issues that Iran has said are not up for negotiation.

The Sunday Times