TEHRAN — As Iran and P4+1 are busy negotiating to possibly revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the United States administration keeps running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.

Anthony Blinken said on Sunday that the U.S. has not seen “signs of seriousness” in Iran, seeking to cast doubt on Iran’s readiness to return to its obligations. 

This comes at a time as 6 delegates are busy negotiating and drafting an agreement, along with making lists of dos and don’ts. It seems that it is high time for Joe Biden to make the single most decisive political decision of his life: To make a political move and return to the JCPOA, or take the high road and follow in the idiotic footsteps of his predecessor, Donald Trump.

Blinken’s remarks came as a shock since Mikhail Ulyanov, head of the Russian delegate and Russia’s ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, described the Vienna talks as “unique”.

“The goal is to restore a nearly ruined deal piece by piece. Was there a similar exercise in the history of international relations? I cannot recollect anything like that. Can you?” he stated.

Ulyanov is not the only negotiator describing the talks as constructive. Earlier, Enrique Mora, European Union’s political director, described the JCPOA as “the key to stability in the region,” saying that there will definitely be an agreement, although he cannot predict when. 

The EU official noted that a common understanding has shaped on three issues. 

The first one is what still needed for U.S. return to the JCPOA, the second being lifting of related sanctions and the third being resumption of nuclear commitments by Iran.

Iran’s chief negotiator, Seyyed Abbas Araqchi, said on Tuesday that significant progress has been made. Yet, he said, the sides still disagree over key unresolved issues. 

He had said on May 6 that all sides showed signs of seriousness. “What can be inferred from the first session is the seriousness of all sides in reaching a solution.” He added that the seriousness is apparent in all delegations, and each side somehow expressed it.

As Biden is pressured by the progressive Democrats to return to the nuclear deal, one day his administration calls the talks productive but the next day his top foreign policy official says that the other party is not serious in returning to its JCPOA obligations. 

The policy of running the hare and hunting the hound has long been extinct. It seems that Biden should distance himself from playing old tricks on Iran. Being Obama’s aide in securing the 2015 nuclear deal, he should know Iran better by now.

Analysts say that the Obama-Kerry team is now led by Robert Malley. Had this been true, the talks wouldn’t have entered its fourth round. 

In the letter addressed to Biden on May 10, 53 congressional Democrats strongly supported an initiative in the Biden administration to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which former President Donald Trump quit.

“Lifting Trump’s bad-faith sanctions - which he explicitly imposed on Iran in order to make a return to the JCPOA next-to-impossible - should not be treated as a concession to Iran, but rather as an effort to restore U.S. credibility and enhance American security,” they wrote, according to The Hill.

The Democrats argued that Trump’s withdrawal “made America less safe,” saying, “America’s credibility has been severely damaged and its national security damaged.”
“The Obama administration did not only prove that diplomacy with Iran works, but it also proved that no other policy tool advances American security more effectively than diplomacy,” they wrote to Biden. “We urge you to continue on this proven path of success.”

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) and Democratic Ohio congressional candidate Nina Turner were among the most notable signatories.

The leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran has time and again stressed that the U.S. cannot be trusted. However, it seems that the Iranian delegation is trusting the Biden administration, which is following the famous idiom, “Policies are like piecrust, they are made to be broken.”

SA/PA