In Iran Nuclear Talks, the US Has No Good Plan ‘B’ – By Daniel Depetris (Defense One) / June 23, 2022
Sanctions haven’t worked. Tehran is drawing closer to a Bomb. It’s time to get serious about negotiating.
More than a year after the United States and Iran agreed to resume nuclear negotiations, diplomacy between these two historical adversaries is on borrowed time. U.S. and Iranian negotiators haven’t held serious negotiating sessions since March. Patience is wearing thin on both sides, and accusations about who is responsible for the months-long impasse are getting more pointed.
Zoom out and focus on the bigger picture, however, and a successful conclusion of the nuclear talks remains the best option for U.S. security interests, not to mention for overall stability of the Middle East. Every other alternative, or so-called Plan B, that has been proposed to date is ineffective at best and dangerous at worst.
It’s easy to look at the current state of affairs and conclude U.S.-Iran nuclear diplomacy is on its last legs. President Biden, who campaigned in part on rolling back the Trump administration’s maximum pressure strategy and resurrecting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, is increasingly agitated about Tehran’s negotiating position. Iran’s unwillingness to sign an agreement until the U.S. delists the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization is holding up progress. Robert Malley, the chief U.S. negotiator, admits that the prospects for a deal with Tehran are “at best, tenuous,” On June 8, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan gave Iran an ultimatum: if Tehran didn’t take the draft agreement available to them, “that’s on them.”
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