Pool / Getty Images The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) and Iranian Americans for Liberty (IAL) issued a joint statement on December 6 urging the Biden administration to end discussions with the Iranian government regarding re-entering the 2015 nuclear deal.
The statement noted that British, French and German diplomats were disappointed and concerned about the Iranians’ proposed changes to the deal at Vienna and that United States Special Representative to Iran Rob Malley and his team have returned to the U.S.
“We are not shocked in the least that the Islamic Republic’s representatives have backtracked on the previously agreed points,” the ZOA and IAL said. “This deception is part of their playbook and we expected this would be the end result. The Islamic Republic has shown the world time and time again they cannot be trusted and that they are not negotiating in good faith.”
They called for Biden “to immediately pivot back to a maximum pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic because strength, not appeasement, is the only language that works with the Mullahs. The State Department must stop placing any level of faith in a terrorist regime that has the blood of Americans, Israelis and others, including the Iranian people on their hands.”
Then-President Donald Trump exited the U.S. from the Iranian nuclear deal in 2018, arguing the deal emboldened Iranian aggression in the Middle East while paving the way for them to obtain a nuclear weapon. His administration engaged in a “maximum pressure campaign” of sanctioning Iran to strongarm them into changing their behavior. Iran has since ramped up their nuclear program; they are currently at a 60% nuclear enrichment purity, just below the 90% threshold necessary to build nuclear weapons, according to The Los Angeles Times.
By contrast, President Joe Biden has advocated for re-entering the deal, which would lessen sanctions on the Iranian government in return for them curbing their nuclear program. “As we continue to believe that a return to compliance with the agreement is the best way forward, that is not an infinite prospect,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on December 7, per The Times of Israel. “What we will not allow is for Iran to, in effect, tread water at talks and not come forward with any meaningful and serious propositions for resolving the outstanding issues to returning to compliance while at the same time advancing its program.” He added that he wasn’t optimistic about the prospects of a revived nuclear deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a December 5 speech to his cabinet that he urges “every country negotiating with Iran in Vienna to take a strong line and make it clear to Iran that they cannot enrich uranium and negotiate at the same time. Iran must begin to pay a price for its violations,” according to the Times.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.