https://www.jpost.com/opinion/is-a-bogus-iran-deal-upstaging-the-abraham-accords-opinion-670725
Testifying before a Senate committee on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken danced around the issue of indirect negotiations in Vienna over a renewal of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran from which former US president Donald Trump withdrew in 2018.
“I would anticipate that even in the event of a return to compliance with the JCPOA, hundreds of sanctions will remain in place, including sanctions imposed by the Trump administration,” he said, hastily adding, “If they are not inconsistent with the JCPOA, they will remain unless and until Iran’s behavior changes.”
However, he acknowledged, “We don’t know at this stage whether Iran is willing and able to do what it would need to do to come back into compliance.”
America’s top diplomat may have caused news outlets around the world to highlight what could have been misconstrued as a hard-line stance toward the regime in Tehran, but he wasn’t fooling anybody else, least of all the ayatollahs. The very fact that he referred to an Iranian “return to compliance” to the deal it never upheld is sufficient cause for them to hold their ground and allow the West to grovel. You know, just as it did when Barack Obama was in the White House and intent on reaching the disastrous agreement in the first place.
It’s important to note that Blinken’s remarks came a day after International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi bemoaned the Islamic Republic’s refusal to cooperate with him on anything related to nuclear activity.
“I reiterate the requirement for Iran to clarify and resolve these issues without further delay by providing information, documentation and answers to the agency’s questions,” he told the IAEA Board of Governors. “The lack of progress in clarifying the agency’s questions concerning the correctness and completeness of Iran’s safeguards declarations seriously affects the ability of the agency to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.”