IAEA chief may visit Iran in January: Politico

• 

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi may visit the Iranian capital, Tehran, in January to hold talks with Iranian officials regarding the Islamic Republic's nuclear energy program, as well as bilateral cooperation between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog, Politico reported on Thursday, citing two European diplomats familiar with the matter.

The American newspaper added that Grossi would try during the visit to persuade Iran to cooperate with the IAEA as part of the agency's investigation into Iran's nuclear program.

Read next: Glimmer of hope remains on restoring JCPOA revival talks: IAEA chief

Iranian officials suggested that Grossi be invited to the Islamic Republic on Sunday during a meeting with IAEA experts, according to Politico.

A group of IAEA experts arrived Sunday in Tehran within the framework of an investigation being conducted by the agency. They wound up discussing the implementation of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iranian officials.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and the High Representative of the EU for International Relations and Security Policy, Josep Borrell met on Tuesday in Amman to discuss the progress of talks aimed at resurrecting the 2015 nuclear agreement.

Over the past year and a half, efforts have been mobilized to revive the JCPOA deal after then-President Donald Trump, with encouragement from then-Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had America withdraw from it in 2018 - stating that the agreement was "a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made," claiming that "it didn't bring calm, it didn't bring peace, and it never will."

The original JCPOA was signed in 2015 by China, France, Germany, Iran, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the European Union.

However, just weeks after the deal seemed to have died, the EU put forward on August 8 what it called a final text to restore the agreement, in which Iran would see sanctions relief and be able to sell its oil again in return for severe limits on its nuclear program.

In an interview with Foreign Policy in late November, US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley said that Iran is "only a few weeks" away from enriching the fissile material needed to develop a nuclear weapon.

The US envoy seems to insist that the Islamic Republic is keen on acquiring the weapon despite that Iran has several times expressed in the past that it is in no way part of its military agenda.

Malley further stated that such a situation has ensued due to the reckless decision of former US President Donald Trump to pull out of the JCPOA agreement. 

A month earlier, in an op-ed published by Axios Israeli correspondent Barak Ravid, US envoy for Iran Rob Malley said the Biden administration is not currently looking to revive the JCPOA deal under the pretext of Tehran's so-called "crackdown" on protesters, its alleged involvement in supplying Russia with drones, and its stance on Iran's nuclear program.

Although the White House has not yet confirmed that the talks have reached a dead-end, Malley's statements surely hint that this sentiment is present in Washington.

Meanwhile, it was revealed yesterday that President Biden declared on the sidelines of a November 4 election rally that the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran is "dead," according to a new video that surfaced on social media, but stressed the United States won't announce it.

This counts as the Biden administration's strongest confirmation that there's no path forward for the Iran deal, which leaves key questions about the future of the JCPOA.

Biden made the statement in a brief exchange with a woman who was present at an election rally in Oceanside, California. She requested that Biden declare the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the official name for the Iran deal, to be null and void.

The president responded that he would not “for a lot of reasons." But then he added: “It is dead, but we are not going to announce it. Long story."