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Analyst: Israel nixing US return to JCPOA

Saturday, 05 December 2020 7:29 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 05 December 2020 7:54 PM ]

Patrick Lawrence

The projected winner of the disputed 2020 US election, Joe Biden, is unlikely to join the Iran nuclear deal because of Israel's vigorous objections to it, according to Patrick Lawrence, an American political analyst and foreign affairs journalist.

In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Biden denounced outgoing President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018, and said that he remains committed to the principles of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The Trump administration restored the sanctions against Iran after pulling out from the nuclear deal between Iran and major powers -- the US, UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany.

Departure from the deal and restoration of the sanctions are constituted illegal actions because they came in absolute disregard for the fact that the JCPOA has been ratified by the United Nations Security Council. The illegal measures were also marked by sheer unilateralism as they violated the international nature of the deal.

Biden says he remains committed to the Iran nuclear deal

The projected winner of the 2020 disputed US election, Joe Biden, says he remains committed to the principles of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

“I understand that the President-elect and his national security adviser Jake Sullivan are publicly committed to rejoining the accord governing Iran's nuclear programs, this is the official position,” Lawrence said.

“I am very very skeptical that they will do so. On the one hand, the JCPOA is an Obama-era undertaking, and Biden is nothing if not a man of Obama. But on the other hand, there's the Israel question,” he added.

“And I don't see how the Americans can rejoin that accord given Israel's vigorous objections to it. And they make this quite plain. I think the recent assassination in your country is related to this,” he noted.

“And my judgment is as follows: I think Biden will use the assassination, this tragic assassination, as a place to hide. We wanted to join the nuclear accord but we just can't. If Jake Sullivan recently announced that, yes, we are committed to rejoining it, and then said provided the Islamic Republic meets these following preconditions,” he said.

“Those preconditions are very likely to be quite similar if not entirely the same as those Pompeo insisted upon. No missile defense system which Iran has a perfect right to have, and an obvious need to have given apartheid Israel is right next door, and the mischaracterization of Iran's efforts to stabilize the region as acts of terror,” he said.

“So, this is in my reading an offer intended to fail. And that is how the Biden administration will be able to say we want to join the accord, but we can't,” he noted.

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