by jdubs1982
Posted 3 years ago
As President Biden hiimself prepares to engage with other world powers on Iran, the adminstration says it's ready to join talks with Iran and world powers to discuss a return to the 2015 nuclear deal, in a sharp repudiation of former President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign” that sought to isolate the Islamic Republic.
After State Department talks between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British, French and German counterparts the Biden adminstration appears interested in talking with Iran. The Biden administration also reversed Trump’s determination that all U.N. sanctions against Iran had been restored. And, it eased stringent restrictions on the domestic travel of Iranian diplomats posted to the United Nations.
The announcement came a day before Biden is to speak to leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies and later in the day address the annual Munich Security Conference.
In a statement, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. would accept an invitation from the European Union to attend a meeting of the participants — the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, along with Iran — in the original nuclear agreement. A stark change from the Trump administration which did not participated in those meetings since the US withdrew from the nuclear deal.
In Iran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Friday the Biden administration action meant that the U.S. had acknowledged moves made under Trump “had no legal validity.”
“We agree,” he added, urging the Biden administration to lift U.S. sanctions “imposed, reimposed or re-labeled by Trump. We will then immediately reverse all remedial measures.”
While these moves have mostly been cheered internationally; In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office expressed worry, saying it believes that “going back to the old agreement will pave Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal.” It said in a statement on Friday that it it remains “committed to preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons" and was in close contact with the United States on the matter.
Topic: World News
Tags: Iran Biden Foreign Policy