The Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA) that was abandoned by President Trump still may have a life, if the Iranian leadership can hold on:
Iran’s president Wednesday dismissed a bill that would reduce Iran’s compliance with international regulations on its nuclear energy program.
On Tuesday, Iranian lawmakers voted for a draft bill that would significantly increase Iran’s nuclear enrichment. The 20% jump would put Iran above the 3.67% enrichment rate Iran agreed to under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
However, on Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he disagrees with the bill, calling it “harmful to the trend of diplomatic activities,” state-run Press TV reported. [AL-Monitor]
But its fate may lie in higher hands, as President Rouhani can be overruled by Supreme Leader Khamenei:
It is unclear what will come of the proposed law. On Wednesday, the speaker of the parliament officially asked Rouhani to implement the legislation. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has yet to take a position on it, Reuters reported.
Khamenei is quite elderly and, reputedly, ill. What the Biden Administration will be facing when it comes to Iran is hard to decipher. But there may be a good chance to cleaning it up, according to this follow up article:
Rouhani: Biden can just sign the “good piece of paper”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani this week called for President-elect Joe Biden to reenter the Iranian nuclear deal by reversing sanctions imposed by the United States after the Donald Trump administration withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal’s formal name, in May 2018.
Rouhani told a Cabinet meeting Wednesday that the next president “can put a good piece of paper on the table and sign it nicely so that we could return to the first place, and it does not take time at all.”
His message echoes that of his Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who said last month that if the incoming Biden administration revokes “only three executive orders” that imposed sanctions on Iran, there is no need for “preconditions or negotiations.” [AL-Monitor]
We’ll have to see how Biden and his advisors like this idea. Keep in mind that current Secretary of State doesn’t qualify as an expert, so we can ignore this:
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement Friday that “the international community must not reward the regime’s dangerous gamesmanship with economic appeasement.”
