Umm Muhammed Umar

Former President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018. In the last few weeks there have been attempts to revive the Iran nuclear deal.  Iran will move forward if it receives some assurances. It doesn’t want a situation where all its efforts have to be shelved, with a change of US president, again. Radio Islam spoke to Jason Brodsky, Policy Director at United Against Nuclear Iran and Middle East Analyst.

Brodsky said that in terms of negotiations over the last year Iran has steadily advanced its nuclear program to such an extent that it has produced a shorter and weaker nuclear deal for the US and the international community, and its own stronger agreement in the form of potentially non-nuclear sanctions and exchange relief for nuclear restrictions. He said that while Iran’s has been stalling for more than a year, there has recently been a little more momentum towards the finish line. Brodsky said, “there are still gaps that remain over guarantees……as well as Iran is demanding that the International Atomic Energy Agency close its outstanding safeguards probe into undeclared nuclear material in Iran, and those are significant hurdles that still remain.”

Brodsky said that he understood that Iran wanted guarantees, but that there were no such guarantees under the current nuclear deal being negotiated. He said, “The revival of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) is very controversial in Washington, just as the original deal was in 2015.” Brodsky added that there was no sustainable political support for a return to this deal. He explained, “So we are talking about a two-to-two-and-a-half-year proposition, potentially, depending on the next presidential election.” He was emphatic that if Iran wanted guarantees, it was going to have to negotiate a longer and stronger arrangement with the United States, that could garner support from both Republicans, as well as Democrats.

Meanwhile, there has been resistance to the deal being revived, by Israel and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia, as a competitor, would love to see extended sanctions against Iran, to ensure that Iran’s oil doesn’t reach the market. Israel has expressed security concerns, legitimate or otherwise. Brodsky said that there was great concern from US allies and partners in the region. He said that Iran was committed to the destruction of Israel, and was going to pursue that, with or without a nuclear deal. He said Israel was most concerned over the relief of sanctions that would enrich the Iranian regime to the extent that it would use the increased funds for supporting its so-called ‘terror’ proxies and partners across the region to threaten Israel. He claimed that this was something the Gulf Arab states were equally concerned about – Iran’s proliferation of missile and drone technology across the region.

Brodsky said that Iran’s regional activity was meant to complement its nuclear negotiating strategy. So, while Iran was sitting at the negotiating table, at the same time trying to attack US forces in the region, US President Joe Biden’s strikes in Syria, prove that the United States, “is also not going to be afraid to defend itself and to push back against Iranian attempts to target its forces in the region.” He claimed, “Iran feels that it can try to use these strikes to try to extract more concessions from the United States at the negotiating table, but instead, it was met with a fierce response from the United States to restore deterrence.” He emphasized, “And that’s what is going to hopefully be the message moving forward.”