“Iran deserves a measure of the blame for resurrecting a matter that diplomats spent more than a dozen years putting to rest…It is the US that is overwhelmingly responsible for the current crisis.”
The US President promised throughout the 2020 election campaign he would restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran, which Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018. However, his administration are reportedly getting “closer” to giving up on the deal.
Since Mr Biden took office on January 20, Iran elected hardline judge Ebrahim Raisi as their new President.
While talks have been held between Washington and Tehran on renewing the JCPOA, no new agreement has been struck.
Borzou Daragahi, senior non-resident fellow at Washington think tank the Atlantic Council, said Mr Biden’s administration “still needs to figure out what it wants in Iran”.
He skewered the US President for failing to renew the agreement with Iran, comparing to “its bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan”.
Writing for the Independent, Mr Daragahi suggested “wishful thinking got the Biden administration into the current impasse with Iran” on renewing the accord.
The expert said “Iran deserves a measure of the blame for resurrecting a matter that diplomats spent more than a dozen years putting to rest”. He believes: “It is the US that is overwhelmingly responsible for the current crisis.
“The administration of Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 and launched a campaign of ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions and bullying to force Iran back to the table to try and strike a ‘better deal’, defying the warnings of anyone who knew anything about Iran – including the leaders of America’s most trusted and steadfast allies such as France, the UK and Germany – that it wouldn’t work.
“It instead prompted Tehran to step up its nuclear programme and its provocative manoeuvres in the Middle East.”