Zarif: Biden Can Kill Sanctions With 3 Executive Orders

Date: 18 November 2020 - 21:51

News ID: ۸۵۰۰۵

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran will "automatically” return to its nuclear commitments if United States President-elect Joe Biden lifts sanctions imposed over the past two years, its foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Teheran’s return to its commitments "can be done automatically and needs no conditions or even negotiations”, Muhammad Javad Zarif said in comments published in the state-run Iran daily.
Decades-old U.S.-Iranian tensions escalated after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from a landmark nuclear agreement in 2018 and reimposed, then reinforced, inhuman sanctions.
While Trump has sought to maximize pressure on Iran and isolate it globally, Biden has proposed to offer the Islamic Republic a "credible path back to diplomacy”.
Zarif argued that "America is obligated to implement Resolution 2231 as a member of the United Nations and its Security Council”, pointing to the UN Security Council resolution that enshrined the 2015 nuclear deal.
"If it does carry out this resolution and sanctions are lifted and there are no obstacles to Iran’s economic activities, then Iran will carry out” its obligations under the deal, he said.
Iran has since May 2019 gradually suspended most of its key obligations under the agreement after repeated U.S. violations and the Europeans’ failure to take any meaningful measure to confront Washington or compensate Tehran.
Iran argued it was reacting to the sanctions and the inability of the other parties - Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia - to provide Teheran with the deal’s promised economic benefits.
Zarif described Biden as a "foreign affairs veteran” whom he has known for 30 years. Once in the White House, Biden could "lift all of these (sanctions) with three executive orders”, Zarif argued.
If Biden’s administration does so, Iran’s return to nuclear commitments will be "quick”, the minister added.
Washington’s return to the deal, however, could wait, Zarif added. "The next stage that will need negotiating is America’s return... which is not a priority,” he said.
"The first priority is America ending its law breaking and rebelling.”

Saudi Arabia Urges Biden Not to Return to Deal

Senior Saudi royal Turki al-Faisal appeared to preemptively push back against Biden’s policies, urging the incoming Democratic administration on Tuesday against rejoining the Iran nuclear deal.

Council on US-Arab Relations, a Washington-based advocacy group, Prince Turki claimed that an American return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) would harm the region’s stability.
He said if Tehran gets sanction relief, it will subject Washington to "blackmailing” when holding talks over the Iranian role in countries like Iraq and Syria.
"Drag negotiations is a part of the Iranian negotiating strategy,” Prince Faisal said. "Negotiating the JCPOA took years to be accomplished while Iran worked on its nuclear program. Mr. President-elect, do not repeat the mistakes and shortcomings of the first deal.”
Sina Toossi, a senior research analyst at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), said Prince Faisal’s remarks prove that Riyadh’s main concern is not nuclear proliferation, which is addressed by the JCPOA.
Instead, Toosi said, the Saudi government fears that Iran may reestablish itself in the global economy, cementing its role as a regional power. "Their fundamental aim is to maintain the survival of this regime, of this autocratic monarchy.”
He said Riyadh has always sought to quell any political or ideological regional influence that it sees hostile to its ruling system. "My main point is that it really is untenable. It goes against the popular will of the region; it goes against broader geopolitical factors.”
Saudi Arabia has congratulated Biden, albeit belatedly, for his election victory. But the former vice president has had some tough words for the kingdom during his campaign.
During a debate last year, he called for stopping weapon sales to the kingdom and making its rulers "the pariah that they are.”
The president-elect has also pledged to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. On the second anniversary of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed by Saudi government agents at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, Biden vowed to rethink U.S. ties with Riyadh.
"Under a Biden-Harris administration, we will reassess our relationship with the Kingdom, end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, and make sure America does not check its values at the door to sell arms or buy oil,” Biden said last month.