US unlikely to revive Iran nuclear deal

The Biden administration will ensure that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon and so the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal is highly unlikely

Will the Joe Biden administration in Washington revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal? Chances are highly unlikely.

Observers say the previous Donald J Trump administration withdrew from the deal in 2018. The thinking of the Trump administration was that under the 2015 deal, Iran did receive billions of dollars in sanctions relief, but it did not honour its part of the agreement. Under the deal, Tehran was supposed to enrich uranium just up to 3.67 percent purity. It was supposed to maintain a stockpile of uranium of 300 kilograms (660 pounds) under constant scrutiny of surveillance cameras and international inspectors. Tehran did not care.

The Biden administration, too, is committed to ensure that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon. Many Democrats and Republicans in Congress think it is in US' national security interest to keep Iran non-nuclear.

The administration must be aware that Tehran has had little intention to keep itself a non-nuclear weapon state. It has already been enriching uranium to nearly weapons-grade level. Iran has a new enrichment programme taking place in the Fordo nuclear center. This center has been built deep underground to keep it immune from any possible air strikes.

Tehran has been unaccountable to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA Board of Governors adopted two resolutions, in June 2020 and June 2022, calling on Iran to clarify the safeguards issues. Iran looked the other. Instead, it has continued to keep the IAEA's cameras at its nuclear facilities turned off. It prevents the IAEA from monitoring its nuclear activities, including uranium enrichment.

The Biden administration must have taken note of what Iran's former Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi has recently said on the Iranian nuclear programme. In an interview to Al Jazeera, Kharrazi has pointed out, "we have become a quasi-nuclear state.... we have the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb... within just a few days, we were able to enrich uranium up to 60%.... we can easily produce 90% enriched uranium."

Also, Washington must have taken note of an emerging near-consensus across the international spectrum that the Iranian nuclear programme poses a threat to the world. Recently, in a joint statement to the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), France, Germany and the United Kingdom said, "Iran continues its unprecedented nuclear escalation.... Iran's nuclear programme... threatens regional and international security."

(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)

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