In a sign of the urgency that President Biden feels about Iran, the White House convened a meeting of the National Security Council’s main committee focused on the country’s nuclear program on Friday, people familiar with Axios said.
Why it matters: The Biden government is still working on its strategy to revive the 2015 agreement backed by President Trump in 2018, but wants to work with allies to end Iran’s uranium enrichment efforts and a arms race in the Middle East. -Eastern to prevent.
- Principal committee meetings – held in the Situation Room and attended by the Secretaries of Defense and the state and other important national security role players – are designed to discuss policy at the highest level before submitting recommendations to the president.
- They are preceded by a meeting of the deputies of all the national security agencies. Jon Finer, deputy national security adviser, led such a session on Wednesday in the Middle East.
- One of the key action items Friday is to return to the nuclear deal ahead of Iran’s presidential election in June or to wait for it, a source familiar with the issue said.
- The Department of State and Defense declined to comment. An NSC spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Drive the news: Foreign Minister Tony Blinken will also hold a virtual meeting on Friday with the Foreign Ministers, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, with Iran on the agenda.
- During Thursday’s press briefing in the White House, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan alluded to the forthcoming diplomatic pressure on the government over Iran.
- “We are actively involved” with European partners, he said. “The consultations will yield a united front in terms of our strategy.”
The plot: During a visit to the State Department later Thursday, the president did not mention his efforts to revive the nuclear deal, a hallmark of then-Secretary of State Obama John Kerry. Most Republicans in Congress vehemently criticized it, and Trump later saved it.
- Biden did announce that the US would no longer support Saudi Arabia in its military offensive against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen’s civil war.
- However he acknowledged that their numbers were not enough to defeat Saudi Arabia’s government.
The big picture: After Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018, he reintroduced the sanctions against Iran. His campaign for ‘maximum pressure’, led by Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo, targeted oil exports and the central bank, with the aim of forcing Tehran back to the negotiating table.
- Nevertheless, Trump could not persuade other members of the original agreement, including China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and Germany, to reintroduce the sanctions.
- The Iranians also hacked down and waited for him.
- Last month, Iran announced that it had increased its uranium enrichment levels to 20%, well above the 5% agreement limit – a clear breach of the agreement.
Blinken has asked his newly appointed Iranian envoy, Rob Malley, to put together a negotiating team made up of diplomats and experts with a variety of views on the way forward with Iran, Barak reported on Wednesday.
- According to a source close to the government, Blinken even asked Malley to bring in people who are “more hawkies” about Iran.
Between the lines door: Blinken suggested that Iran first comply with the agreement before the United States lifted sanctions.
- “We are far from that point,” the secretary said last week.