Middle East experts in favor of Biden’s return to Iran nuclear deal in its current condition, new survey shows

A new poll shows experts on the Middle East want new US President Joe Biden to "immediately" return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in its current form and without any conditions.

According to the survey conducted by the Middle East Scholar Barometer, 67 percent of respondents said the US would most likely achieve "favorable results" in its foreign policy if Biden returned "immediately" to the current Iran nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), American news magazine Newsweek reported.  

The survey also established that 75 percent of experts believed the US returning to the deal would contribute to non-proliferation within the next decade.  

Meanwhile, Shibley Telhami, a Mideast scholar and the Anwar Sadat professor for peace and development at the University of Maryland who developed the survey, commented on requests for opening up negotiations with Iran on other issues to be included in the nuclear program.  

He said that reopening the deal would result in certain “problematic” issues, including concerns that the prospect of reaching a new deal would even become impossible. 

He added that it may also open up the possibility of “military escalation,” which is largely opposed by the academic community, as only 1 percent of those surveyed supported military action against Iran. 

Rouhani: Ball in US court to lift bans, put Iran deal back on track

Iran’s President Rouhani rules out any renegotiations of the JCPOA, says the US should practically lift its sanctions in the first place in order for the agreement to get back on track.

A non-random sample of 521 experts participated in the survey, which was published on Tuesday, and was conducted from February 8 to 15 as a joint project between the University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll, and the Project on Middle East Political Science at George Washington University.  

Only 4 percent in favor of 'maximum pressure' 

According to the poll, only 4 percent of the respondents were in favor of the US continuing its so-called maximum pressure policy against Tehran, which Telhami said harmfully affects the people of Iran. 

Former president Donald Trump pulled the US out of the landmark JCPOA in 2018 in defiance of International criticism, and reinstated the sanctions that had been lifted against Iran under the accord as part of its maximum pressure campaign against Tehran. 

The US also imposed fresh sanctions against Iran in the final days of Trump’s presidency in pious hope of brining Tehran to its knees.  

Europe needs to ditch passive attitude toward Tehran-Washington dispute over JCPOA: Carnegie Europe

Carnegie Europe urges Europe to ditch its passive attitude regarding the Iran-US dispute over the 2015 nuclear agreement.

Biden, who was vice president when the JCPOA was clinched, said during his presidential campaign that he intended to rejoin the deal. But he now says the US would not lift sanctions and return to the agreement until Iran stops its enrichment practices. 

Iran took certain measures to suspend its commitments in several phases one year after it fully lived up to its obligations and when it saw no palpable action by the other signatories to the JCPOA to guarantee trade with Iran and protect it from US sanctions.   

Although it was the US that unilaterally left the JCPOA, Biden has insisted it is Iran that should first return to full compliance before Washington takes a step.   

Since Biden's inauguration on January 20, the international community has been eager to see how he would make good on his promise, but no concrete measure whatsoever has been taken to that goal.  

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Iran will not accept mere verbal promises in the case of the JCPOA and needs to see action on the part of the co-signatories. 

Leader: Iran wants to see action on nuclear deal, won’t settle for words

Ayatollah Khamenei says Iran will not accept mere verbal promises in the case of the 2015 nuclear agreement this time around and needs to see action on the part of the co-signatories.

“Concerning the JCPOA, I should just say one word. We have heard many nice words and promises that have been violated and have not been fulfilled in action,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. “But this time around, [we accept] only actions!” 

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk