Audio Tape: Will The U.S. Return to the Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA)? Prospects and Roadblocks. KGNU Boulder. Hemispheres, Middle East Dialogues Hosted by Jim Nelson. Tuesday, February 23, 2021.

China to Iran – one of the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative

Will the Biden Administration return to the Iran Nuclear Deal (formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action)? There is some movement on that score by the Biden Administration but complications remain. The Iranians insist that since the U.S. withdrew from the framework that there will be no negotiations with Washington until it returns to the agreement. Returning to the agreement and implementing it requires the U.S. (and Europeans) to drop sanctions – a form of hybrid warfare – in exchange for Iran limiting it nuclear enrichment program.

Beyond the technical issue involved, Washington’s return to the JCPOA would be a major step towards normalizing U.S. relations with Iran, and accepting the existence of the Islamic Republic of Iran as the United States did in the past with the Soviet Union in the 1930s and Communist China in 1979 when Jimmy Carter initiated full recognition of the Peking government.

There is momentum, popular support in the United States and Europe for a U.S. return to the agreement. On the other hand there is stiff opposition from the military industrial complex in the United States, from Israel and Saudi Arabia who their relations with Iran as a zero sum game – ie, if Iran gains influence, they lose it – as well as from their supporters (AIPAC, Zionist and Saudi lobbies) in the USA.

The next few weeks are critical.

While Kazerooni and Prince would welcome a U.S. return to the JCPOA, they are skeptical that Washington has to will to change its policy towards Iran.