The transition team in the Biden administration is debating between the abolition of sanctions and a return to the nuclear agreement and the exploitation of their influence • An American source for Netanyahu: "Do not speak publicly on the issue"
Will Biden return to the nuclear deal?
Photography:
Reuters
Internal discussions in the transition team of US President-elect Joe Biden, regarding the approach to be taken with Iran to return to the nuclear deal.
There is a consensus among all members of the new president that the original agreement signed by Iran and the superpowers in 2015 is in need of improvement.
"The common expression in internal discussions is that the agreement should be stronger and longer (Longer and stronger)," reveals a source involved in the mood among the transition team.
However, he said, "there are two approaches to how to reach this goal - and the key question is whether to continue the sanctions imposed on Iran by outgoing President Trump, or to repeal them without preconditions."
Will the principle of reciprocity be maintained?
According to the official position, which was also made public by the designated Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, the United States will fully return to the nuclear deal, from which President Trump withdrew in 2018.
Blinkan's remarks implied that the return process would include the lifting of sanctions.
According to this approach, after the US removes the sanctions and fully returns to the agreement, Tehran will do the same and stop the violations it has committed in the last two years, and in particular the high-level enrichment to the extent prohibited by the agreement.
In the second phase, when both sides meet the terms of the original agreement, the US will demand from Iran the extension of the agreement and the improvement of its components. At the heart of these improvements: halting Iran's missile program and stopping its technological progress in uranium enrichment.
"Biden is not Obama"
On the other hand, others in Biden's team believe that this conciliatory attitude towards Iran is useless.
According to them, the severe sanctions imposed by Trump should be leveraged and their removal conditioned on Tehran's consent to change the agreement, and only in this way can Iran be flexible and agree to improvements.
This position has not been made public so far, but some of the president's advisers are adhering to it.
It is estimated that the Biden administration will eventually take a mixed approach, which is not a complete and immediate return to the agreement, but which includes tributes to the Iranians, in the belief that such measures will persuade it to change the agreement.
Biden's transition team criticizes the public statements of Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel's ambassador to Washington, Ron Drummer, regarding the new administration's intention to return to the nuclear deal.
The two have stated on various occasions that going back to the agreement would be a serious mistake, and Ambassador Drummer even said he does not sleep at nights because of it.
According to a source close to the transition team, "the new administration is interested in a dialogue with Israel about the changes needed in the agreement, but this dialogue should be inside the room and not outside," he protested.
He lamented that "while the American side has refrained from making statements regarding Israeli positions, the prime minister and ambassador to Washington are doing so."
The senior US official stressed that "Biden is not Obama, and it is no coincidence that the appointments to senior positions in foreign policy are not those of Obama."