Biden administration could enter nuclear deal with Iran before 21 Feb - a former Biden advisor

Tehran/Washington: – Iran has threatened that if the United States does not sign the nuclear deal before 21 Feb, it will ban the entry for the inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into its nuclear projects. The western media has claimed that Iran has issued this threat to pressurise the Biden administration. But Jon Wolfsthal, former advisor to President Biden, said that the nuclear deal would be signed between the United States and Iran before 21 Feb.

Iran has demanded that the United States must revive the 2015 nuclear deal, unconditionally participate in the agreement, and withdraw all the sanctions imposed against Iran. The Iranian foreign ministry reminded that there was only this week left for President Joe Biden to decide regarding this. Iran has demanded that if the sanctions are to be withdrawn, Iran should be allowed to sell its oil and unfreeze all the Iranian accounts in the foreign countries.

If President Biden fails to comply in the next seven days, the Rouhani government will be forced to follow the Iranian parliament’s instructions. Saeed Khatibzadeh, a spokesman of the Iranian foreign ministry, warned that the IAEA inspectors would not be allowed to enter the Iranian nuclear projects. Khatibzadeh also warned that if the extremist government comes to power in the presidential elections, coming up in June, the nuclear deal will be under further threat. Before this threat, Iran tested a short-range smart missile. With a range of 300 kilometres, this missile is capable of targeting all the US bases in the Gulf. Therefore, the western media claimed that the missile test and the warning issued to President Biden regarding the 21st February deadline increased the pressure on the Biden administration.

Jon Wolfsthal, who was Biden’s advisor when he was the Vice-President in the Obama administration, has put it differently. The United States, Iran and other nuclear deal participant countries will make a big announcement before 21 Feb. Wolfsthal claimed that the United States would declare its intent to be a part of the nuclear deal once again. Wolfsthal asserted that even if an extremist government comes to power in Iran, it will not affect the nuclear deal.

The Biden administration’s current stand is that Iran should abide by the 2015 nuclear deal and stop the aggressive nuclear movements. But a former advisor to Barack Obama has exposed some critical information on the condition of anonymity. The concerned official claimed that the Biden administration is already in discussions with Iran. Despite all this, it is certain that re-entering the Iran nuclear deal will not be easy for the Biden administration. Strong reactions can be coming from the US allies in the Gulf. This could also have a major impact even on internal US politics.