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WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration said Thursday it was ready to join talks with Iran and world powers to discuss a return to the 2015 nuclear deal, in a brutal repudiation of ” maximum pressure campaign “of former President Donald Trump who sought to isolate the Islamic Republic.
The administration also took two steps at the United Nations to restore the policy to what it was before Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018. The combined actions were immediately criticized by Iranian hawks and are likely to spark concern of Israel and the Arab Gulf States.
In addition to signaling its willingness to speak with Iran, the administration also quashed Trump’s determination that all UN sanctions against Iran had been reinstated. And, he relaxed strict restrictions on domestic travel by Iranian diplomats assigned to the United Nations.
The State Department announced the measures following talks between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British, French and German counterparts, and as Biden prepares to participate, albeit virtually, in his first major international events with world leaders.
The announcement came a day before Biden addressed leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies and later that day at Munich’s annual security conference. Either way, Biden is expected to discuss his commitment to multilateral diplomacy and his desire to repair the damage Trump’s positions may have caused over the past four years.
In a statement, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States would accept an invitation from the European Union to attend a meeting of the participants – the five permanent members of the Security Council of the United States. ‘UN and Germany, as well as Iran – in the initial nuclear deal.
“The United States would accept an invitation from the High Representative of the European Union to attend a meeting of the P5 + 1 and Iran to discuss a diplomatic path to follow on the Iranian nuclear program,” he said. he declares. The United States has not attended a meeting of these attendees since Trump withdrew from the deal and began gradually increasing sanctions against Iran.
Such an invitation has not yet been issued, but is expected shortly, following Blinken’s talks with British, French and German foreign ministers.
Meanwhile, at the United Nations, the administration notified the Security Council that it had withdrawn Trump’s invocation in September 2020 of the so-called “backtracking” mechanism under which it maintained that all of the The UN against Iran had been re-imposed. These sanctions included a conventional arms embargo against Iran that was to expire.
Trump’s determination had been vigorously contested by almost every other member of the UN and had left the United States isolated in the global forum. Thus, the overthrow is unlikely to have any immediate practical effect other than to bring the United States back to the position of the vast majority of UN members, including some of its closest allies.
Acting US Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Mills sent a letter to the Security Council saying the US “hereby withdraws” three letters from the Trump administration that resulted in the announcement on the 19th. September that the United States had reimposed UN sanctions on Tehran. because of its “significant non-performance” of its obligations.
Trump’s decision had been ignored by the rest of the Security Council and the world, and the overwhelming majority of members of the Council of 15 Nations called the action illegal because the United States was no longer a member of the nuclear deal.
At the same time, officials said the administration had relaxed extremely strict limits on travel by Iranian diplomats accredited to the United Nations. The Trump administration had imposed severe restrictions, which essentially confined them to their UN mission and the UN headquarters building in New York.
The top Republican on the House foreign affairs committee, Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, was quick to denounce the measures. “It is concerning that the Biden administration is already making concessions in an apparent attempt to reinstate the flawed deal with Iran,” he said. “The Trump administration has created leverage for President Biden over Iran – we must not waste this progress.”
Earlier Thursday, Blinken and his European counterparts had urged Iran to allow continued United Nations nuclear inspections and stop nuclear activities that have no credible civilian use. They warned that Iran’s actions could threaten delicate efforts to bring the United States back into the 2015 deal and end sanctions damaging the Iranian economy.
Iran “is playing with fire,” said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who took part in talks in Paris on Thursday with his British and French counterparts. Blinken had joined by videoconference.
Iran has said it will halt part of the inspections of its nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency next week if the West does not implement its own commitments under the accord. 2015. The deal has collapsed since Trump withdrew the United States from the deal.
Blinken reiterated that “if Iran returns in strict compliance with its commitments … the United States will do the same,” according to a joint statement after Thursday’s meeting which reflected closer transatlantic positions on Iran since. that President Joe Biden has taken office.
Diplomats noted “the dangerous nature of a decision to limit IAEA access, and urge Iran to consider the consequences of such serious action, especially at this time of new diplomatic opportunities.”
They said Iran’s decision to produce uranium enriched up to 20% and uranium metal has “no credible civilian utility.”
The 2015 agreement aims to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Tehran denies seeking such an arsenal.
“We are the ones who have kept this deal alive for the past few years, and now it’s about helping the United States get back on the path to the deal,” Maas told reporters in Paris.
“The measures which have been taken in Tehran and which could be taken in the days to come are anything but useful. They are endangering the Americans’ path to this agreement. The more pressure there is, the more politically difficult it will be to find a solution, ”he said.
Iran’s threats are “very worrying,” said British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab, stressing the need to “re-engage diplomatically in order to contain Iran, but also to bring it back into conformity.
Diplomats also expressed concern over human rights violations in Iran and its ballistic missile program.
In Iran, President Hassan Rouhani expressed hope on Thursday that the Biden administration will join the deal and lift the U.S. sanctions Washington reimposed under Trump, state television reported.
Tehran has used its breaches of the nuclear deal to pressure the remaining signatories – France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China – to push Iran further to offset crippling sanctions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the President of the European Council met this week with Rouhani to try to end the diplomatic impasse. The IAEA chief is due to visit Iran this weekend to find a solution allowing the agency to continue inspections.
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Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Angela Charlton and Masha Macpherson in Paris contributed.
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