The resumption of the Iranian nuclear deal is under threat

The United States believes that there should be no additional conditions for the resumption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, “nuclear deal”) with Iran. This was announced at a briefing on September 2 by the press secretary of US President Joe Biden, Karine Jean-Pierre. Tehran’s latest proposals are seen in Washington and Brussels as a “step back” in resuming the deal. On the eve of the midterm congressional elections, contacts on this topic may be frozen, so the renewal of the JCPOA is again under threat, Politico reports, citing sources.

As Jean-Pierre said, if Tehran is ready to fulfill the conditions that it agreed to at the time of the agreements in 2015, then Washington is “ready to do the same.” But the IAEA investigations launched against Iran should not be closed, Jean-Pierre said. This was one of the conditions put forward by Iran, which considers such investigations to be politically motivated. Biden’s spokeswoman noted that the US is awaiting the results of an IAEA investigation into traces of enriched uranium at three previously undeclared Iranian facilities. “Iran must respond (to the agency’s statements. – Vedomosti.) – it is quite clear that the investigations are not of a political nature. They are not leverage or bargaining chips,” she said. On September 1, Iran sent its latest response to the text proposed by the European Union for the renewal of the agreement. In addition to closing the IAEA’s uranium investigations at the three sites, Iran also demanded, during the latest round of talks, guarantees that the deal would be honored if the US pulled out again. According to the JCPOA concluded in 2015, Iran, in response to the reduction and control of its nuclear program, was to receive the lifting of UN and Western sanctions by 2022. But in 2018, US President Donald Trump announced America’s withdrawal from the agreement.