TEHRAN— While Iran committed to the deadline set by the European Union and sent its concluding decision to the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday, the United States has not yet announced what its response will be.

On Thursday night, a European diplomat told a prominent American journalist that the EU is expecting to receive Washington’s response “any moment now.”

However, as quoted by Laura Rozen, the European official suggested that the response could be received Friday.

In an article published in Politico on Friday, Barbara Slavin, Director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, said, “There are many reasons why Iranian officials have been hesitant about whether to accept a new European Union proposal for reviving the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).” 

She then noted, “The dominant political faction in Iran is full of officials who opposed the plan and saw their views vindicated when the United States withdrew from the deal in 2018 — while Iran was in full compliance. And they are understandably wary of trusting the promises of another U.S. administration.” 

What Slavin says is also true about the U.S. political system. Take Senator Jim Risch for example. A ranking member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Risch is one of the main opponents of reviving the JCPOA.

In a series of false claims, Risch claimed that the text of the agreement could be threatening to Washington’s allies. 

“…These demands from #Iran are blackmail and would go down in history as a major Biden foreign policy failure, coming on the heels of the disastrous #Afghanistan withdrawal. Not to mention this deal will threaten the safety of our partners and Americans in the region,” he claimed.

This could serve as a good wake up call to the Western media and to motivate the White House to respond to Iran’s demands as soon as possible. 

The EU has described Iran’s package proposal as “constructive.” Tehran’s response to the EU’s ideas paves the way for reaching a final agreement.

It is also important to note that Iran has not raised any new demands in its response. It has also provided solutions for some remaining issues, some of which were previously supported by the EU.

Meanwhile, the Western media are continuing with their false narratives to portray Iran’s demands as maximalist and beyond JCPOA. Among those false narratives are the false claim of requesting compensation from the U.S.

Another point that is worthy of consideration is that the same media outlets that described Iran’s response as “constructive” are now accusing Tehran of creating obstacles in the way of restoring the agreement. This comes while Iran’s reasonable demands are only based on its past experience of trusting the Obama administration. 

Therefore, Iran’s reservations are perfectly reasonable, but let’s remember that it is now the United States that has stalled responding to Iran’s proposal. The ball is way into the U.S. court. What is an “obstacle” to reviving the deal is that the United States is domestically divided and is incapable of making a major political decision.

Additionally, the Israeli regime’s premier Yair Lapid has sent a letter to the White House to “remind” Washington of his red lines. This is an old tactic employed by the Israelis whenever the negotiators are close to a breakthrough. Israelis keep meddling in possible revival of the JCPOA, and Biden is too weak to repel them.

It is crystal clear that the Israeli lobbyists, such as AIPAC, impact his decision. 

In her article, Slavin wrote, “At a time when the world is confronting multiple crises, Iran has the power to defuse an issue of utmost importance to regional stability and the cause of non-proliferation. The Raisi government should seize this opportunity before it disappears.” The Tehran Times would like to recommend Mrs. Slavin to send a wakeup call to the White House as well, as the time is running short. 

Meanwhile, Western media is trying to portray the possible unfreezing of 7$ billion of Iran’s blocked assets in South Korea as an “American favor”. It is important to remember that Seoul is engaged in pure hostage-taking by refusing to unfreeze Iranian assets from 2018. It is also important to remember that Seoul is clearly getting instructions from the U.S. government. These assets should have been unfrozen long ago, and conditioning its release to the JCPOA revival is pure hostage-taking.

When asked about the Israelis’ hurried letter to the United States, Ned Price, spokesman for the United States’ State Department, said the U.S. and Israel have “tactical differences” when it comes to the JCPOA.

“It is no question that we have tactical differences with our Israeli partners when it comes to this question, the JCPOA. There is also no question that when it comes to the strategic objective, the overarching objective, we see entirely eye to eye,” Price said, implicitly confirming that preserving Lapid’s interests are more worthwhile to the U.S. than preserving its own people’s interests.

According to Axios, in his letter, Lapid suggested Biden to “walk away” from the negotiations table. 

Russia’s top negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov has taken a more positive approach, saying that an agreement could be reached before September 1.

According to Ulyanov, there are currently three texts for reviving the JCPOA and the EU is trying to bring the views closer. He also said that Russia is under the impression that Washington wants to resolve other outstanding issues not related to the JCPOA.

Ulyanov made the remarks in a presser on Friday. 

“The U.S. administration lives in a completely different world, because what was written in the U.S.-proposed text is not achievable,” Ulyanov was quoted as saying.
He then noted that no one has been able to prove that Iran has missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

The decision is entirely up to Biden. He can take the suggestion of his Israeli friends and choose to walk away in total shame, or he can at least have one achievement in his tenure before the 2024 presidential elections.