WASHINGTON, Feb 2, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Iran’s foreign minister on Monday asked
the European Union to coordinate a synchronized return of both Washington and
Tehran into a nuclear deal, after a diplomatic standoff on who will act
first.
US President Joe Biden has voiced support for returning to the accord, from
which Donald Trump exited, but has insisted that Tehran first resume full
compliance by reversing measures it took to protest the sweeping sanctions
imposed by his predecessor.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who has previously demanded an end
to sanctions before Iran acts, offered a way forward during an interview on
CNN International.
“You know clearly there can be a mechanism to basically either synchronize
it, or coordinate what can be done,” he told interviewer Christiane Amanpour.
Zarif said that EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell should play a role in
his position of coordinator of the 2015 agreement — which also included
Britain, France and Germany as well as Russia and China.
Borrell can “sort of choreograph the actions that are needed to be taken by
the United States and the actions that are needed to be taken by Iran,” Zarif
said.
“The United States needs to come back into compliance and Iran will be
ready immediately to respond. The timing is not the issue.”
Trump walked out of the deal negotiated under former president Barack
Obama, vowing instead to strangle Iran’s economy and reduce its clout around
the region.
The Biden administration argues that Trump’s actions badly backfired, with
Iran both moving away from the nuclear deal and only intensifying its
opposition to US interests, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken warning
that Iran could now produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon
within “a few months.”
But Blinken again cautioned that a return to the nuclear accord would not
be swift.
“If it decides to come back into the agreement — that may take some time,
then it’s gonna take us some time to assess whether they, in fact, had made
good on their obligations,” Blinken told NBC News in an interview broadcast
Monday.
Zarif in his interview said that Iran could return to its previous
commitments “in less than a day.”
“Some may take a few days or weeks, but it won’t take any longer that it
would take the United States to implement executive orders that are necessary
to put back Iran’s oil, banking, transportation and other areas that
President Trump violated, back into operation,” Zarif said.
Iran denies it is seeking a nuclear weapon but rival Israel has charged
otherwise and threatened military action.