Reentering the Iranian nuclear agreement is “not [the Biden administration’s] focus right now,” State Department spokesman Ned Price revealed on Wednesday.
President Joe Biden’s administration has remained steadfast in its commitment to reenter the 2015 nuclear agreement that former President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018, though Price’s comments are the latest to demonstrate how far apart the two sides remain.
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“I think it is very clear, the Iranians have made very clear that this is not a deal that they have been prepared to make,” he added. “A deal certainly does not appear imminent. Iran’s demands are unrealistic; they go well beyond the scope of the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]. Nothing we’ve heard in recent weeks suggests they have changed their position.”
National Security Council coordinator John Kirby reiterated many of Price’s points in a gaggle with reporters a day later, adding that Biden “is committed to not allowing Iran to achieve a nuclear weapons capability,” and that he “still believes that a diplomatic way forward is the best way forward.”
“We are not close to securing a reimplementation of the JCPOA. At this time the Iranians have come back with unreasonable demands, many of which have nothing to do with the deal itself,” he added. “And so we’re just not close to achieving a satisfactory outcome of that and we’re not going to sign up to a deal that doesn’t meet our national security interest and doesn’t have the desired outcome.”
With negotiations at an impasse, the administration is instead focusing on supporting the protesters in Iran who have demonstrated in the streets against the regime, beginning after Mahsa Amini, 22, died in the custody of Iran’s Morality Police.
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Amini, an Iranian Kurd, fell into a coma after Iranian authorities seized her over an alleged infraction related to the wearing of her hijab. The unfolding protests have given vent “to broader grievances against the political establishment and encompassed demands for the end of the Islamic Republic system,” according to Amnesty International.
Iranian officials have attempted to prevent the dissidents by imposing an internet blackout, in addition to launching ballistic missiles and other ordinances at the Kurdish region of neighboring Iraq, which the U.S Treasury Department sought to counteract by issuing a general license for companies to bolster internet access to Iranians.
