Iran-US diplomacy trudges on as hopes of new nuclear understandings grow
Even if the nuclear deal is never revived, recent developments give hope that the nuclear situation will not deteriorate further.
The European Union’s mediator for reviving the Iran nuclear deal Enrique Mora met with Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani earlier this week, as Washington and Tehran are reportedly discussing new agreements that would limit the latter’s nuclear capabilities.
While US President Joe Biden has said the Iran nuclear deal is “dead,” a new agreement of sorts appears in the making.
“Long live the Iran deal” is not a cheer raised by anybody in the Biden Administration. Nor would Biden’s political opponents, who never liked the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), ever compliment his foreign policy achievements. But anyone concerned about the prospects for nuclear proliferation and conflict in the Middle East should be pleased by recent events.
On the record, the Biden team insist that there is no new nuclear deal. Off the record, however, officials from various nations have sketched the outlines of an impending cease-fire in the escalation with Iran. An unwritten agreement is in play for release of three dual US-Iranian citizens imprisoned in Iran on spurious charges, indirectly coupled with the US release of Iranian oil sale revenues.
