Even as mass demonstrations have swept Iran, the Biden administration has held on to the prospect of eventually reaching an accord with the current regime to reenter the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Although the secretary of state and several administration spokespeople have said that the talks are “not a focus” at the moment, they have also said that diplomacy remains the only possible option moving forward — though they also blame the Iranians for making unreasonable demands that have effectively frozen the talks.
Washington’s refusal to conclusively walk away is generally in line with the European Union’s position on the negotiations, per comments that EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell made on Monday in Brussels after a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers:
You will understand that, in this situation the JCPOA is in a very difficult situation. But I think that we do not have a better option than the JCPOA to ensure that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons. This remains in our own interest.
This is why, I still believe that we have to separate the sanctions on human rights and arms provision to Russia from the nuclear programme the escalation of which is of great concern. And in spite of the fact that the nuclear deal remains in a stalemate and the escalation of Iran’s nuclear programme is of great concern, we have to continue engaging as much as possible in trying to revive this deal.
This is hardly surprising, but Borrell’s remarks are just another reminder that while the negotiations are on ice, there remains a path forward. It’s hard to see the Biden administration, meanwhile, make a significant break with the EU and European participants in the deal on this.