TEHRAN- Kourosh Ahmadi, an international relations expert, says if there is political will by both the United States and Iran to return to the nuclear deal and therefore it is not difficult to revive the JCPOA.

In interview with ILNA on Monday, Ahmadi said, “The Europeans and the U.S. consult with Israel and countries in the region on returning to the JCPOA.”

One year after the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear deal Iran started to gradually reduce its commitments to the agreement at bi-monthly intervals. However, Iran is still a member of the JCPOA and is still conducting some terms of the agreement.

Iran has repeatedly and unequivocally announced that if the parties to the nuclear deal honor their commitments it will immediately reverse its decisions. 

“It is likely that Iran and the U.S. will face the challenge of 'who will return to its commitments first,” Ahmadi predicted.  

Referring to the recent position taken by the Biden administration team and senior Iranian officials, he noted, “Who should take the first step. This is an issue that was raised earlier, in 2015, and eventually Iran took a series of technical measures which were verified by the IAEA, and then the U.S. started to meet its commitments. The Obama administration implemented the JCPOA on January 16, 2016 because Iran showed flexibility.” 

Ahmadi believes that such a problem may arise now. 

“One of the problems and obstacles that may exist is ‘who will take the first step’. The U.S. has violated its commitments and it cannot say that Iran has violated the agreement, so the U.S. must really and logically take the first step to return to the JCPOA.”

He expressed hope that the two sides would take the necessary steps to return to the JCPOA in a reciprocal manner, saying, “There is a way for the parties to reach a middle ground.” 

The former diplomat adds, “If there is sufficient political will on both sides, there is no major problem to return to the JCPOA.” 

“Until now, Biden and his team have adhered to the formula he had announced in a note to CNN on September 13, 2020. They are talking about the U.S. decision to rejoin the JCPOA if Iran fulfills its commitments." 

EE/PA