The United States responded Wednesday to Iran’s proposals to revive the nuclear deal 2015, reviving hopes of a return to the historic international pact from which it had withdrawn under the presidency of Donald Trump.
Weeks after the text seemed dead, the European Union (EU) presented on August 8 a formula to revive it, by which Iran would see an easing of economic sanctions on Iran and could again sell its oil in exchange for severe limits to its nuclear program.
Iran last week proposed changes to which the United States formally responded on Wednesday, a day after Tehran will accuse Washington of obstructionism.
United States Iran and the EU They confirmed the US response, but neither immediately commented on it in depth.
The management review of Joe Biden on “Iran’s comments has now concluded. Today we have responded to the EU,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
In Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Iran had begun “thoroughly reviewing” the US response sent by the EU.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will announce its opinion to the (EU) coordinator after completing its examination,” he added, referring to Josep Borrell, the head of European diplomacy, in charge of the issue.
Israelan enemy of Iran, raised his voice against it.
“There is a bad deal on the table right now. It would give Iran $100 billion a year,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid told reporters, without explaining what he was basing the figure on.
The money would be used by groups backed by Iran, such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihadto “undermine stability in the Middle East and sow terror throughout the world,” he added.
And he pointed out that “he is not by definition against an agreement, but against this agreement.”
Lapid vowed to preserve cooperation with the United States, Israel’s crucial ally, and avoided the former prime minister’s confrontational stance. Benjamin Netanyahuwho openly joined Republican rivals of then US President Barack Obama in campaigning against the agreement signed in 2015.
The Israeli prime minister sent his national security adviser, Eyal Hulata, to Washington this week. His US counterpart, Jake Sullivan, told him Tuesday that Washington is committed to “preserving and strengthening” Israel’s defenses and “ensuring that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon.”
Attacks in Syria
Biden took office in 2021 with the aim of restoring the agreement signed with Tehran by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Russia) plus Germany, and from which Washington unilaterally withdrew under Trump in 2018.
But for a year and a half, diplomacy crawled in Vienna, where Iran pressed hard and insisted on dealing only indirectly with US envoy Rob Malley, through EU mediators going from hotel to hotel.
Faced with opposition from Israel, US Republicans and some Iranian hardliners to the deal, both Washington such as Tehran have gone to great lengths to portray the other side as offering concessions.
The United States says Iran backed down on a key sticking point: Biden removing the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guards, an elite ideological unit of the clerical regime, from his blacklist of terrorist organizations.
Biden has refused to do so and on Tuesday ordered air strikes against pro-Iranian militia bases in eastern Syria, “affiliated” with the Revolutionary Guard.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the strikes destroyed infrastructure, including ammunition depots, in “direct response” to an Aug. 15 attack on a small contingent of US troops in Syria.
“We are not looking for an escalation, but we remain prepared to respond to any ongoing threat,” he told reporters.
Iran denounced the attack as “terrorist” and denied that the targeted groups were linked to Tehran.
According to reports, a commitment drawn up by the EU establishes that the United States will maintain the “terrorist” designation for the Revolutionary Guards, but will limit actions against those who deal with this body of great influence in the Iranian economy.
Kirby said the United States had stood firm on another point of contention: that Iran cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog to clear up suspicions about earlier work at three undeclared sites.
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