Iran’s Rouhani suggests nuclear deal’s fate is in Biden’s hands
President Hassan Rouhani said Iran will resume full compliance with the nuclear deal as soon as his incoming American counterpart uses his signature to rejoin the same accord.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani once again signaled his government’s readiness for full compliance with the multilateral Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). But such a development, according to Rouhani, will take place after the incoming administration of US President-elect Joe Biden reinstates Washington’s membership in the deal, from which President Donald Trump withdrew in May 2018.
“All it takes is a signature [from Biden], and in no time we will all be back at where we used to be,” Rouhani said, attacking Trump, “the uneducated, business-minded man, who drew scrambled lines [his signature] on the paper” before pulling Washington out of the JCPOA.
In May 2019, Iran began “reducing commitments” under the JCPOA, a decision it said was meant to push the European signatories into providing Tehran with the accord’s economic benefits, which were missing after the US withdrawal. But the Trump administration’s pullout was also coupled with its “maximum pressure” policy that continues to squeeze the Iranian economy. The Rouhani government is counting the days with hopes of rapprochement with the incoming Democratic leader for the Oval Office.
“We should make use of the new opportunity for diplomacy,” Rouhani added in his address to the Cabinet on Dec. 9. Such a goal, he argued, will be achieved with unity among political factions. Given the ongoing heightening tensions between the Rouhani government and the hard-line parliament, however, such unity seems far-fetched. The two sides are embroiled in an intense tug of war, which has laid bare their deepest rifts in the public sphere.
