Iran sanctions could tighten if nuclear talks fade: US official
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Almost every Republican in the US Congress, as well as a few Democrats, consider that the effort to resurrect the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Tehran is not "worthwhile".
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Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez
At a classified briefing on Wednesday, Biden administration officials guaranteed senators that the US would increase sanctions on Iran if necessary, as hopes for a diplomatic solution to Tehran's nuclear program faded, according to attendees who spoke to Politico.
The assurances came as lawmakers from both parties pressed the Biden administration to outline a backup plan to "prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons." US officials had been working for months to resurrect the nuclear deal with Tehran, which Donald Trump ripped up in 2018, but the last of those discussions took place in March, according to one top lawmaker.
After the briefing, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez said: “For all intents and purposes, there are no talks.”
“The question is whether leaving the door open to the potential deal … is something that’s desirable as a strategic position for the administration to say to the world, ‘we tried, here it is, they’re unwilling to do it”, he added.
Furthermore, officials from the Biden administration told senators that existing sanctions against Iran would be maintained at the very least. Menendez responded, "I would stay tuned," when asked if the administration is considering additional punitive measures to deter Iran's nuclear program.
Senators who attended the briefing on Wednesday described a range of possible next steps for US policy toward Iran, from continuing to seek a diplomatic solution to imposing new unilateral sanctions and huddling with regional partners.
It is worth noting that US President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia and “Israel”, next month for talks on a variety of issues most notably Iran and global energy prices.
Officials from the State Department either declined to comment or did not respond to questions about the briefing, according to Politico.
Officials have previously stated that they have all of the legal authority needed to impose sanctions on Iran for both nuclear and non-nuclear activity, such as its support for resistance movements in the region and oil sales.
Brett McGurk, the White House's top Middle East official, and Rob Malley, the top envoy for the Iran talks, briefed senators on the near-impossible task of reversing Iran's nuclear capabilities, according to members of both parties.
“There’s not a lot of clarity [on a] plan B,” added Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.). “Some of that is just a function of the fact that there aren’t a lot of great options here.”
Efforts to resurrect the 2015 nuclear agreement were hampered when Biden’s administration decided not to implement a full removal of sanctions and keep the IRGC on its "terror list".
The Vienna talks between Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties began in April on the assumption that the US, under the Joe Biden administration, is willing to reverse the so-called maximum pressure policy pursued by former President Donald Trump against Tehran.
Menendez, who voted against the Obama administration's deal, has already stated publicly that Iran "now has enough uranium to produce a nuclear weapon" and has urged the White House to acknowledge that returning to the original agreement is no longer the best option. Nearly all Republicans agree with him.
It's not the first time the Biden administration's policy has drawn bipartisan criticism.
Many Democrats, however, continue to believe that the best way is to negotiate re-entry into the 2015 accord, which enforced restrictions on the country’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
