Page 5 - DMEA Week 44 2021

DMEA COMMENTARY DMEA

Part of the statement read: “We welcome China, though the accord by now is hardly func-
President Biden’s clearly demonstrated commit- tioning. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russian ambassador
ment to return the US to full compliance with the to multilateral bodies in Vienna, welcomed Bid-
JCPOA and to stay in full compliance, so long as en’s pledge.
Iran does the same.” Biden noted that the US was still paying the
However, such a pledge from Biden has lim- price of bad choices made by the Trump admin-
ited worth because the JCPOA has never been istration, including the decision to quit the
endorsed by the US Senate, and he may have JCPOA, but he reiterated that he and European
little to no influence on the actions of future US leaders at the summit had agreed diplomacy was
administrations. the best way forward in handling Iran over the
After all, in May 2018 then US president future of the nuclear deal.
Donald Trump unilaterally pulled Washington “We came together to reiterate our shared
out of the multilateral JCPOA even though the belief that diplomacy is the best way to prevent
UN was stating that Iran was in full compliance Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and dis-
with its terms. cussed how best to encourage Iran to resume
Its terms were designed to ensure the Iranian serious good faith negotiations,” he said.
nuclear development programme stays entirely Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony
civilian in return for a shield against major eco- Blinken said that Washington was “absolutely
nomic sanctions being imposed on Iran. Trump in lock step” with the UK, Germany and France
said the deal was neither tight nor tough enough. on getting Iran back into a functioning JCPOA,
European powers objected to Trump’s with- but he added that it was not clear if Tehran was
drawal but stopped short of offering Iran mean- willing to rejoin the talks in a “meaningful way”.
ingful assistance to protect its economy from his “It really depends on whether Iran is serious
swingeing sanctions, which Tehran described as about doing that [reviving the JCPOA],” Blinken
‘economic war’. said. “All of our countries, working by the way
In an interview published at the weekend, with Russia and China, believe strongly that that
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdol- would be the best path forward,” he added.
lahian was dismissive of the US efforts to pave “But we do not yet know whether Iran is will-
the way for new JCPOA talks, saying that that ing to come back to engage in a meaningful way,”
there was no need for the negotiation and that Blinken said. “But if it isn’t, if it won’t, then we are
the simplest solution would be for Biden to issue looking together at all of the options necessary to
an executive order saying he was returning to the deal with this problem.”
nuclear deal and lifting sanctions. Despite Washington’s apparent keenness to
Amir-Abdollahian also said that Iran’s Raisi improve bilateral relations, Iran’s Islamic Revo-
administration, in power since August, was lutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) this week said
moving to a balanced foreign policy, with the that it had thwarted an attempt by the US Navy
implication being that Iran would deprioritise to impound an Iranian oil tanker in the Sea of
relations with the West. Oman. State-owned Press TV said: “Members of
In what may have been a further attempt to the Guards’ naval forces carried out a heliborne
bring Iran back to the negotiating table, the US operation on the detained tanker’s deck, gained
E3 joint statement issued in Rome also contained control of the vessel, and directed it back toward
no demand that Tehran, as part of any agree- Iran’s territorial waters.”
ment, commit to follow-on negotiations about With neither side apparently willing to give
what the West sees as its destabilising behaviour an inch, optimism about the future direction of
in the region backing militant groups in various talks should be taken with at least a pinch of salt,
zones of conflict. while energy sector firms will remain hesitant
The remaining signatories to the JCPOA about any moves having had their fingers burned
are Iran, France, Germany, the UK, Russia and by the withdrawal of the JCPOA.™

Week 44 04•November•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P5