WASHINGTON (AP) – Biden’s government says it is ready to enter into talks with Iran and world powers to discuss a return to the 2015 nuclear deal, in a sharp repudiation of former President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign” “which wanted to separate the Islamic Republic. .
The government also took two steps at the United Nations to restore policy to what it was before Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018.. The combined actions were immediately criticized by Iranian falcons and expressed concern to Israel, who said they were committed to deterring Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Aside from a willingness to talk to Iran on Thursday, the government also reversed Trump’s decision that all UN sanctions against Iran were reversed. has been restored. And it has eased strict restrictions on the domestic travel of Iranian diplomats posted to the United Nations.
The State Department announced the move following talks between Foreign Minister Antony Blinken and his British, French and German counterparts, and while Biden was preparing to take part, albeit virtually, in his first major international events with world leaders.
The announcement comes a day before Biden speaks to leaders of the Group of Seven Industrialized Democracies and later in the day address the annual Security Conference in Munich. Both Friday, Biden is expected to discuss his commitment to multilateral diplomacy and his desire to undo the damage Trump’s positions have caused over the past four years. He is expected to address the US stance on the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal in Iran, the war in Afghanistan and the economic and national security challenges posed by Russia and China.
In a statement, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States would accept an invitation from the European Union to attend a meeting of participants – the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany – with Iran. to live in the original core agreement.
“The United States will accept an invitation from the High Representative of the European Union to attend a meeting of the P5 + 1 and Iran to discuss a diplomatic way forward on Iran’s nuclear program,” he said. The US did not attend a meeting of the participants as Trump withdrew from the agreement and gradually began tightening sanctions against Iran.
Such an invitation has not yet been issued, but one is expected soon following Blinken’s talks with the British, French and German foreign ministers.
In Iran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday that the Biden administration’s actions meant that the US had acknowledged the steps taken under Trump “have no legal force.”
“We agree,” he added, urging the Biden government to lift US sanctions “imposed, reinstated or re-labeled by Trump.” We will then reverse all corrective measures immediately. ”
In Israel, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed concern, saying he believes that “going back to the old agreement will pave Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal.” It said in a statement on Friday that it was still “committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons” and was in close contact with the United States.
Meanwhile, the Biden government has notified the United Nations Security Council that it has withdrawn Trump’s call for the so-called September 2020 snapback mechanism in which he insisted that all UN sanctions against Iran be reinstated. These sanctions included a conventional arms embargo against Iran that would lapse.
Trump’s determination was strongly disputed by almost all other UN members and left the US isolated from the world body. It is therefore unlikely that the reversal will have an immediate practical effect, except that the US will re – align itself with the position of the vast majority of UN members, including some of its closest allies.
Acting US Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Mills sent a letter to the Security Council saying that the United States was withdrawing three letters from the Trump administration, which led to the September 19 announcement that the United States Imposed UN sanctions on Tehran. due to his “significant default” with his obligations.
Trump’s move was ignored by the rest of the Security Council and the world, and the vast majority of members in the 15-nation council called the action illegal because the US was no longer a member of the nuclear deal.
At the same time, officials said the government had eased extremely strict restrictions on the travel of Iranian diplomats accredited to the United Nations. The Trump administration imposed the severe restrictions, which essentially limited them to their UN mission and the UN headquarters building in New York.
The House’s leading Republican in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, quickly denounced the steps. “This is about the Biden administration already making concessions in an apparent attempt to re-enter into the erroneous Iran deal,” he said. “The Trump administration has created leverage for Iran over President Biden – we must not squander progress.”
Earlier Thursday, Blinken and his European counterparts called on Iran to allow continued United Nations nuclear inspections and to stop nuclear activities that have no credible civilian use. They warned that Iran’s actions could threaten sensitive efforts to bring the US back into the 2015 agreement and end the sanctions that are hurting Iran’s economy.
Iran is “playing with fire”, said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who took part in talks with his British and French counterparts in Paris on Thursday. Blinken joined via video conference.
Iran has said it will suspend part of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspections of its nuclear facilities next week if the West does not meet its own obligations under the 2015 agreement. The deal has been unraveling since Trump pulled the US out of the deal.
Blinken reiterated that “if Iran fulfills its obligations again … the United States will do the same”, according to a joint statement after Thursday’s meeting which reflected closer trans-Atlantic positions on Iran since President Joe Biden took office .
The diplomats note “the dangerous nature of a decision to restrict access to the IAEA, and urge Iran to consider the consequences of such serious action, especially in this time of renewed diplomatic opportunity.”
They said Iran’s decision to produce up to 20% enriched uranium and uranium metal had ‘no credible’ civilian use.
The 2015 agreement aims to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Tehran denies that it wants such an arsenal.
“It is we who have kept this agreement alive for the past few years, and it is now about supporting the United States in the feedback to the agreement,” Maas told reporters in Paris.
“The measures that have been taken in Tehran and that can be taken in the coming days are anything but useful. They are endangering the Americans’ path back to this agreement. The more pressure is exerted, the more politically difficult it will be to find a solution, ‘he said.
Iran’s threats are “very worrying”, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab emphasized the need to “re-engage in diplomacy to contain Iran but also bring it back into line”.
The diplomats also expressed concern about human rights abuses in Iran and the ballistic missile program.
In Iran, President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday expressed hope that the Biden government would re-enter the agreement and lift the US sanctions that Washington reinstated under Trump, according to state television.
Tehran is using its violations of the nuclear deal to put pressure on the remaining signatories – France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China – to give Iran more incentives to compensate for the crippling sanctions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the President of the European Council spoke to Rouhani this week to end the diplomatic stance. The head of the IAEA plans to travel to Iran this weekend to find a solution that will allow the agency to continue inspections.
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Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Angela Charlton and Masha Macpherson in Paris contributed.