White House Comments on JCPOA, COVID Vaccines, Petroleum Strategic Reserves
The White House says that their goal is a return to mutual compliance with the JCPOA, and that they have not reconsidered their decision to release strategic oil reserves.
White House Spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Monday that the United States' goal of full return to compliance with the Iran nuclear agreement has not changed.
"Our objective has not changed,” Psaki said. “It remains a mutual return to full compliance with the JCPOA."
The Vienna Talks were restarted today after a 5-month hiatus. Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said today that the seventh round of negotiations on the renewal of the nuclear deal has begun successfully.
Psaki also commented on the Biden administration's decision to release oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserves, saying the administration has not reconsidered its position on the release.
Psaki: No plans to restrict Biden's travel for Omicron
Psaki was asked during the press briefing whether there are plans to restrict President Joe Biden's travel on account of the new Omicron variant, to which Psaki said that there are "none planned at this point."
She also clarified that Biden will put forward a detailed strategy on how to fight covid this winter next Thursday, adding that there are no recommendations on changing US citizens' travel plans during the upcoming holiday season.
Psaki said that they had pressed on pharmaceutical companies in the past to be a productive player in the fight against the pandemic, but "we can't compel or force anyone to share their intellectual property data... that's not something written into these contracts which obviously were done prior to the president taking office." However, Biden's "supports the IP waiver," she declared.