2023-06-26 19:07:28
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during a meeting with the scientific community on the occasion of an exhibition on the nuclear industry in Iran, June 11, 2023. THE OFFICE OF IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI VIA AFP
The United States has given up, for the time being, on resolving the Iranian nuclear issue. Negotiations for a rehabilitation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement signed in 2015, failed in September 2022 due to overbidding by Tehran.
But the Biden administration, aware of the progress of the Iranian program and the accumulation of fissile material and knowledge, seeks to at least curb the worrying deterioration in this file. For this, it is considering an informal and unwritten agreement with Tehran, the objective always being to block the way to the bomb.
“I called it choosing a plan Cexplique Henry Rome, expert de l’Iran au Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Plan A was to resurrect the JCPOA, a Joe Biden campaign pledge, which the administration tried to achieve in 2021 and 2022. That effort failed. Plan B, advanced by the Israelis and by some observers in Washington, proposed to intensify economic, political and military pressure on Iran to force it to accept a better deal. But the Biden administration was opposed to this strategy. Hence the third option. It aims to keep the Iranian file out of the presidential office for as long as possible, hoping that this will take us beyond the 2024 election.”
Resumption of bilateral dialogue
US officials – including special envoy Robert Malley – traveled to Oman on several occasions between February and May to pursue contacts with Iran. The Iranian Foreign Minister confirmed this resumption of bilateral dialogue.
Read the analysis: Article reserved for our subscribers The inexorable advance of the Iranian nuclear program embarrasses Westerners
Among the Iranian concessions envisaged in this tacit agreement would include in particular the cessation of uranium enrichment to 60% and beyond. In May, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimated that Iran had a total of 4744.5 kg of enriched uranium, of which 114.1 kg was 60% enriched. According to expert estimates, Tehran already has enough fissile material to potentially manufacture two or three bombs, which would then equip a missile. The proposed agreement would therefore make it possible to freeze the situation, but in no way to modify these parameters and to remedy the spectacular contraction, over the past two years, of the time required (breakout time) for Iran to dispose of the bomb.
Photograph posted on February 15, 2023 on the Twitter account of Robert Malley, US Special Envoy for Iran, during his visit to Oman to Sheikh Khalifa Al Harthy to discuss their partnership and issues relating to Iran TWITTER @USENVOYIRAN
Iran would also pledge to freeze the installation of latest-generation, faster and more sophisticated centrifuges, to stop attacks on American contractors in Syria and Iraq through armed contractor groups, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah , and not to supply ballistic missiles to Russia, reported the New York Times June 14.
You have 63.52% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
#absence #agreement #United #States #seeks #informal #agreement #Tehran