Iran's talks to be expected to take a great deal of time; U.S Professor
A U.S Professor told ILNA that it appears that Biden and his foreign policy team recognize that withdrawal from the JCPOA was a mistake and would like to rejoin it.
Speaking in an exclusive interview, Alan W. Cafruny said that the JCPOA was an important accomplishment of the Obama presidency and Trump’s withdrawal was one of the worst foreign policy decisions of his presidency.
Experience has shown that sanctions rarely alter a target state’s behavior and this has certainly been the case with Iran. Sanctions did not provoke a “regime change” in Tehran or significantly reduce Iran’s political and military activities in the Persian Gulf."
Referring that Iran complied faithfully with the provisions of the JCPOA for more than a year after the United States withdrew, the Henry Bristol Professor of International Affairs said that the withdrawal isolated the United States from its European allies who resented the loss of business resulting from secondary sanctions and failed to pressure Tehran from refraining from enhancing ballistic missile capabilities.
"However, for Washington the JCPOA represented the culmination of many years of delicate and indeed arguably unprecedented negotiations involving the interaction of foreign policy and domestic politics. The agreement was bitterly opposed by Saudi Arabia and Israel and their powerful allies in both parties in the U.S. Congress as well as the military-industrial complex."
"The attempt to return to the agreement has already provoked strong resistance from all of these forces and such resistance will increase if a settlement appears likely," he added.
Cafruny confirmed that Bilnken’s assertion that Iran must return to full compliance before the United States resumes negotiations and lifts sanctions is something that Iran could never agree to. There is no question that the United States should move first to fulfill its commitments, including at the very least the suspension of sanctions.
Pointing to US internal problems, he said that Biden is preoccupied with domestic policies including the Covid relief/stimulus package and the potential passage of an infrastructure bill. He has also placed a very high priority on the containment of China and Russia, in which sanctions on Iran play a role.
"For all of these reasons negotiation can be expected to take a great deal of time and the demands that Washington places on Iran to elicit domestic support and appease Israel and Saudi Arabia may prove to be too great," the U.S Professor stressed.
Cafruny also confirmed that the imposition of draconian sanctions on Iran in the context of the pandemic has been very harmful to the Iranian people. It clearly constitutes a violation of humanitarian law and norms.
END