Biden administration to return to Iran talks
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks in a cabinet meeting in Tehran, Iran, on Wed. Dec. 2, 2020.
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In a sharp contrast to former US President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign,” the Biden administration on Thursday set out to rejoin talks with Iran and opened the possibility of returning to the nuclear deal brokered under the Obama administration. The State Department also took more concrete steps at the United Nations to restore the 2015 nuclear policy and withdraw from Trump’s demands for UN sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic.
The nuclear accord has been unraveling since the US stepped out of the agreement in 2018. But Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated that “if Iran comes back into strict compliance with its commitments … the United States will do the same,” according to a statement. The announcements on plans for the US reengaging with allies on Iran comes with many challenges.
President Joe Biden is also prepping for his first major international events with world leaders on Friday. He is speaking with the Group of Seven industrialized nations and later at the annual Munich Security Conference where he is expected to again call for a commitment to multilateral diplomacy to address economic and national security challenges posed by Russia and China.
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