Biden seeking to re-enter Iran deal due to concern over Iran-China partnership deal, says commentator

A political commentator believes the reason behind the US President Joe Biden administration’s efforts to rejoin the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is its concern over the recently-inked partnership deal between Iran and China.

“The Biden administration is worried over the recent signing of the 25-year strategic cooperation agreement between China and Iran,” Ashok Swain, who is a professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research of Uppsala University in Sweden, said in an interview with Press TV.

“So, the US wants to return to the nuclear deal to normalize its relations with Iran as soon as possible,” he said. “The fear of China’s rising influence in the region will push the US to be sincere with Iran.”

Late in March, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi signed the Sino-Iranian Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to strengthen the traditional friendship between the two states.

The partnership agreement, which was five years in the making, includes Chinese investments in Iran’s energy and infrastructure sectors in return for steady supplies of Iranian oil.

Days after the signing, negotiations were launched in the Austrian capital, Vienna, to revive the nuclear deal – which was abandoned by the former US administration of Donald Trump.

China set to become largest global economy in near future, pundit says

China is economically performing spectacularly for the last four decades. It was on its way to being the world’s largest economy anyway, but the Covid pandemic has accelerated that process. But the US economy is still struggling to cope with the pandemic despite its massive stimulus package.

Swain said the Biden administration is seriously concerned over the rise of China and is trying to do whatever possible to gain back its leadership position at the global power table.

“In the G-7 meeting in the UK, Biden has clearly expressed his plan to create an ‘alliance’ of some sort to keep China in check,” he said.

‘Biden continuing Trump’s bullying tactics’

Pointing to the slow pace of the Vienna talks, the analyst criticized the Biden administration’s failure to remove the Trump-era sanctions as soon as the negotiations began, saying Biden could have corrected the US fault to some extent by returning to the deal.

“But it did not do so and continued the same bullying tactics,” he said, noting that the US has been a bully in international politics for a long time.

Swain also said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was right to say the US should first remove the sanctions on Iran in order to return to the nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“It should have been the right thing for the US to do by lifting all the sanctions it has imposed on Iran,” he said. “The most appropriate action would have been for US President Joe Biden to return to the 2015 nuclear deal without further negotiation after assuming office.”

He further said Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA and Biden’s renegotiation over the return to the deal “don’t reflect well on the US and its international standing as a reliable and trustworthy partner.”

Iran top negotiator: We need to have a good deal to address our key concerns, meet our key objectives

Iran’s top negotiator in the Vienna talks on the JCPOA revival says the Iranian delegation seeks a good deal that will address Tehran’s key concerns.

Chaired by Deputy Secretary General and Political Director of the European External Action Service Enrique Mora, the sixth round of Vienna talks began on Saturday between Iran, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.

The US has also sent a delegation to the Austrian capital but is not attending the JCPOA Joint Commission talks directly as Washington is no longer a party to the deal. It has, however, held separate talks with the other parties with the exception of Iran.

Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s top negotiator in the Vienna talks, told Press TV on Sunday that the Iranian delegation seeks a good deal that would address the Islamic Republic’s key concerns and will continue the negotiations until such a deal is reached.

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

www.presstv.co.uk