In recent weeks, the Biden administration has been pushing for an interim agreement with Iran that would include granting some sanctions relief in exchange for Iran freezing parts of its nuclear program.
The administration has not ruled out returning to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which the U.S. withdrew from under Donald Trump, with the former president calling it “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions” that failed to protect U.S. national security.
However, the Biden administration is becoming increasingly concerned with Tehran’s nuclear progress and has been discussing an interim deal with European and Israeli partners, sources close to the negotiation told Axios. This is despite Iran’s military assistance to Russia and its crackdown on protesters and dissidents. The U.S. also recently carried out several airstrikes on Iran-aligned groups in Syria after an Iranian drone attack killed a U.S. contractor and injured five service members.
Discussions within the administration reportedly began in January, and the partners were told in February. In addition to Israel and the U.S., the central Western actors are France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Also in February, it was revealed that Biden administration diplomats were pressuring the U.K. not to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, concerned that that would further hamper talks with Iran.
A recent International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report revealed that Iran has amassed 87.5 kilograms of 60 percent enriched uranium. If that uranium is enriched to the 90 percent level, it will be enough to produce one nuclear weapon. Alarm bells are already ringing throughout the West, and if Iran continues to enrich that uranium, an Israeli air strike would be likely.
Sources told Axios that the Iranians have rejected the idea of an interim deal and will only entertain a return to the 2015 deal.
The Biden administration is pursuing an interim deal with the knowledge that the Obama administration concluded several interim agreements prior to the JCPOA.
Since Biden took office, the U.S. has vacillated between seeking to return to the 2015 deal and stopgap solutions. It already mooted an interim deal in 2021, but when the parties couldn’t come to a solution, the proposal was shelved. According to Axios, a return to the 2015 deal was almost reached last September, but that was also shelved after the Western partners rejected Iran’s demand that the IAEA investigation into undeclared nuclear sites be shut down.