Coaxing Iran To Uphold Nuclear Commitments Should Not Include New Concessions

October 22, 2021

(New York, N.Y.) — U.S. diplomats are meeting Friday with their British, French and German counterparts to discuss the potential for multilateral talks with the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iran has sidelined its diplomats from further engagement with the international community on the JCPOA following the election of Ebrahim Raisi to the Iranian presidency in August. At the same time, Tehran’s new hardline regime is seeking greater concessions even as it openly violates its existing obligations. 

In February, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) organized an open letter calling upon President Joe Biden to refrain from reentering the JCPOA and warning him that Iran would not behave as a responsible state actor. The regional realities of 2021 – including Iran’s obstruction of international weapons inspectors and violations of the JCPOA – should guide the U.S. approach: 

There have been calls for President Biden to lift U.S. sanctions and reenter the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) without preconditions. We respectfully urge him instead to develop a bipartisan strategy on Iran with Congress in conjunction with U.S. allies and partners in Europe and the Middle East that reflects the regional realities of 2021, not 2015 when the original deal was agreed to.

Under the JCPOA, Iran has openly and repeatedly test-launched ballistic missiles, increased its stockpiles of enriched uranium, and produced significant quantities of uranium metal – which can be used to manufacture the core of a nuclear bomb. Furthermore, the JCPOA includes dangerous clauses that sunset restrictions on Iranian behavior established by the United Nations Security Council. An international arms embargo was allowed to expire in October 2020. Restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missile program will expire in October 2023. 

To read UANI’s resource The Iran Nuclear Deal: What’s Wrong With It And What Can We Do Now?, please click here.

To read UANI’s An Open Letter To Biden Administration: A Path Forward For The P5+1 And Iran, please click here. 

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