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Why is Russia delaying the Iran nuclear deal
in reaction to Western sanctions?
Summary
Russia has postponed the
fi
nalisation of a new Iran nuclear deal,
adding unexpected new conditions at the last minute in retaliation to
Western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has sought to assist Iran in evading sanctions, and you can
bet Iran will do the same.
The deal did not prevent Iran from developing nuclear arms or
supporting terrorism, both of which it pursued with vigour after
2015.
Inspections and surveillance are how we ensure that Iran is
upholding its half of the bargain and not cheating, says Peter
Bergen.
The inspections that the US obtained as a result of this agreement
are, to put it mildly, astounding, Bergen says.
Both countries have been engaged in a long-simmering shadow
cyberwar.
Israel's air force is also said to have carried out operations in
neighbouring Syria.
Talks between world powers and Iran are being closely watched by
Israel, as well as the Middle East.

2. The United States and Russia agree that Iran should not have a
nuclear weapon.
Both countries are watching the election in Iran closely, which puts
a hard-line cleric, Ebrahim Raisi, on the ballot.
Content
Russia has postponed the
fi
nalisation of a new Iran nuclear deal,
adding unexpected new conditions at the last minute in retaliation to
Western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine.
A new agreement was anticipated to be unveiled in the coming days
after a crucial sticking point was sorted out during a visit to Tehran
by Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA).
What is the nuclear nexus between Iran and
Russia?
Will Team Biden provide Moscow with relief in order to
preserve the doomed Iran deal?
The United States and Europe are attempting to halt Russia's brutal
takeover of Ukraine while also depending on Russia to help restore
the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran.
It's no surprise that Russia feels empowered to demand even more
concessions from the West.
"We have requested a formal commitment... that the present
process initiated by the US does not jeopardise our right to free and
complete trade, economic and investment cooperation, and military-
technical collaboration with the Islamic State," Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.
The world's rogue regimes are increasingly cooperating, and Russia
is attempting to use Iran to get respite from sanctions imposed in
response to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Mr. Lavrov's insistence highlights the basic
folly of this process:
Iranian of
fi
cials have refused to engage directly with Americans,
and Russia has served as a key mediator since discussions started
in Vienna last year.
According to the Biden Administration, there is no relationship
between Iran and Ukraine sanctions.

3. "The additional Russia-related penalties have nothing to do with the
JCPOA and should have no in
fl
uence on its possible
implementation," a State Department spokeswoman said on
Saturday.
"We will continue to work with Russia to restore full implementation
of the JCPOA." Russia and Iran have a similar goal of preventing
Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Is there a shared interest? Russia has sought to assist Iran in
evading sanctions, and you can bet Iran will do the same.
This victory of hope over reality has been a recurring element in
Obama and Biden's approach to Iran.
Iran received billions of dollars in sanctions relief in return for
temporarily delaying nuclear development under the 2015
agreement.
Of
fi
cials in the Obama administration thought that this would temper
Iran's actions overseas.
However, the agreement did not prevent the nation from developing
missiles or supporting terrorism, both of which the Islamic Republic
pursued with vigour after 2015.
In 2018, Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement and started a
"maximum pressure" sanctions campaign.
Iran started publicly breaking the agreement and acquiring
irreversible nuclear expertise, making the previous agreement
useless.
The Trump Administration has implemented penalties relating to
Iran's support for terrorism, and media reports indicate that the
Biden Administration is prepared to waive both those and the
nuclear sanctions in exchange for a fresh accord.
The 2015 agreement was also predicated on the idea that the West
had a complete accounting of Iran's nuclear programme, but the
government has refused to cooperate with the International Atomic
Energy Agency.
The United Nations agency and Tehran revealed a plan on Saturday
to settle problems over undeclared nuclear installations, although
IAEA head Rafael Grossi said the issues may not be resolved in the
end. In a new agreement, Iranian military installations are likely to
remain off-limits to inspectors.
Why is the United States so desperate?

4. On "Face the Nation" on Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony
Blinken stated that the US wants to put Iran's nuclear programme
"back in the box," but it's a cardboard box.
Even if Iran adheres to the agreement once again, its protections
have already begun to expire, and by 2031, Tehran will be allowed
to freely manufacture and store weapons-grade uranium.
A new agreement will also shower Iran with tens of billions of dollars
in cash in order to cause havoc in the Middle East.
When asked whether the United States may buy Iranian oil,
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said last week that "all
possibilities are on the table."
Impose sanctions on Russia and then back Russia's ally, Iran.
How and why may Venezuela be next?
No agreement can dissuade Iran's resolve to become a nuclear
power, and Russia will not implement the accord. The two nefarious
powers will collaborate to attack US interests across the globe.
How does the Iran nuclear agreement work?
So, after months of negotiations in Austria and Switzerland,
negotiators from Iran and six global countries have announced that,
believe it or not, they have reached an agreement with Iran on its
nuclear programme.
"Every avenue to a nuclear bomb has been blocked off."
But what exactly does it mean? How does it all function in
practise?
This quickly becomes technical, but it helps to walk through and
look at some of the most relevant aspects.
One of the most important is uranium, which is extracted from the
earth and used for nuclear fuel for a power plant or even a bomb.
Iran is required to hand over 97 percent of its enriched uranium
under the terms of the agreement.
Iran will hand over the vast majority of its centrifuges.It will be
reduced from 20,000 centrifuges to 5,000 centrifuges capable of
spinning
fi
ssile material.
Plus another 1,000 for research and development, although it can
employ
fi
ssile material.

5. And if Iran decided one day, "You know what, we don't like this
agreement anymore, therefore we're going to develop a weapon," it
would take a long time.
And this brings us to another critical issue: inspections.
Inspections and surveillance are how we ensure that Iran is
upholding its half of the bargain and not cheating.
The inspections that the US obtained as a result of this agreement
are, to put it mildly, astounding.
According to one arms control researcher, there is "nearly a 100
percent possibility that if Iran cheated, it would be found by these
inspections." That's how talented they are.
So, what does Iran receive in exchange for
agreeing to all of this?
Iran receives a reprieve from economic sanctions that have been
damaging its economy.
These restrictions isolate Iran's economy from the rest of the world,
cutting it off from international banking and
fi
nance.
These sanctions have been disastrous for Iran's economy, and the
country is anxious to get out from under them.
This is a major event, not only for Iran as a country but for the 77
million people who live there.
They have a large middle class and have been subjected to
economic sanctions for far too long.
They will
fi
nally have the opportunity to establish a genuine
economy, hopefully very soon after this.
Nuclear talks between Iran and the United States are approaching
completion, with an announcement on a new agreement to relieve
sanctions in return for renewed curbs on uranium enrichment
anticipated shortly.
Diplomats have started brie
fi
ng the media on some of the facts in
order to prepare lawmakers, opinion leaders, and voters for the
developing compromise.
In an underground war room at Israel's armed forces headquarters,
one of its cyber units is working on defending the country's
cyberspace.
Normally, cameras are not allowed in here, but DW has been
granted exclusive access.

6. The virtual adversaries hail from all over the world, from state actors
to hacker groups, with Iran considered one of the main agents.
Both countries have been engaged in a long-simmering shadow
cyberwar.
Israel's air force is also said to have carried out operations in
neighbouring Syria to prevent Iranian soldiers or proxy militias from
entrenching themselves.
With the overarching goal of reducing Iran's nuclear programme
and in
fl
uence in the region, Nobody wants a war in the Middle East,
no doubt about it.
However, one must remember that Israel is the only country
threatened by Iran with annihilation from the map, which is why
talks between world powers and Iran in Vienna to revive the 2015
joint comprehensive plan for action, also known as the JCPOA, are
being closely watched here.
Iran has never enriched to 60%, as it is doing now, and it was never
enriched to 20% during the JCPOA period.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has also said that Israel would not
accept any arrangement since it is not a party to the accords, is not
obligated by what is included in the agreements if they are signed,
and will continue to retain complete freedom of action anywhere, at
any time.
The debate in Israel over possible unilateral action against Iran has
heated up.
The country has reportedly set aside a signi
fi
cant budget to prepare
the Israeli military for a potential strike on Iran.
The main show is in Vienna, and Israel is trying to produce a viable
military option, which Israel is still working on in the meantime.
According to analysts, a nuclear Iran would alter the whole area and
might spark a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
Is Iran an ally of Russia?
Iran and Russia are strategic partners who, together with Armenia,
constitute an axis in the Caucasus. Iran and Russia are also military
allies in Syria and Iraq, as well as partners in Afghanistan and post-
Soviet Central Asia.
Who is Iran's most important ally?

7. Syria. Strategically, Syria and Iran are allies. Despite the Arab
nationalism philosophy of Syria's governing Baath party, Syria is
sometimes said to be Iran's "closest friend."
Is Russia interested in Iran acquiring nuclear
weapons?
Iran was mentioned at the Geneva summit, and Martha Raddatz is
reporting from Tehran tonight.
The United States and Russia agree that Iran should not have a
nuclear weapon, and both countries are closely watching this
election.
It is almost certain that a hard-line cleric named Raisi will be
elected; he is a favourite of the Ayatollah, and there have been
some enthusiastic rallies for him this week.
But the majority of Iranians say they will not vote because moderate
candidates are not on the ballot were excluded from the race.
Now raising does support the Iranian nuclear deal that President
Biden is attempting to resurrect. But if this hardliner is elected, it
may make it more dif
fi
cult to obtain a tougher and longer
agreement, slowing things down.
David Martha Radius is reporting from inside Iran tonight. Thank
you, Martha. George Stephanopoulos is here.
What Do We Know About Iran's Nuclear
Program's Key Locations?
This is an Iranian rocket test launch.
Although Iran has said that the rocket would be used to transport
satellites into orbit, several Western governments have stated that
Iran may conceivably employ rockets of this kind to transport a
nuclear device.
We want to prevent Iran from gaining a
nuclear weapon.
As Iran passed new uranium enrichment milestones and curtailed
access to inspectors in 2021, doubts about what is really occurring
at several nuclear sites where it handles uranium and plutonium,
the critical elements for a nuclear weapon, have grown.
These loopholes in surveillance will raise concerns about Iran's
objectives.

8. Iran has frequently denied that it is developing a nuclear weapon,
claiming that installations like these are used to manufacture
electricity, medical equipment, and scienti
fi
c research.
However, nuclear specialists believe that this gear might be used to
make bombs, and they point out that the government has been
using its nuclear capabilities as leverage with the international
community.
Almost all of the technologies have a civilian nuclear energy
component as well as a nuclear weapons component.
What exactly do we know about Iran's
nuclear infrastructure? And how might it be
used to create nuclear weapons?
Iran has been developing its nuclear programme for almost a half-
century.
When Iran was controlled by the Shah in the 1960s and 1970s,
there was an early interest in nuclear technology, fueled by the
United States, and some of Iran's oldest nuclear facilities were
developed at that time.
Jeffrey Lewis is a nonproliferation enthusiast who offers seminars
on weapons control.
After the Shah fell, all of that collaboration was broken off, and Iran
had a tumultuous relationship with the United States, seeking to
resuscitate the nuclear programme on and off during the 1980s and
1900s, until the early 2000s, when Iran made a substantial
commitment to a nuclear programme.
In the early 2000s, satellite data revealed places such as Natanz,
where Iran claims to enrich uranium for its nuclear power reactors.
Natanz is a facility where Iran does the majority of its uranium
enrichment.
Kelsey Davenport works as an analyst for a nonpartisan group
dedicated to weapons control.
This complex is fairly vast.
It can accommodate around 100,000 centrifuges. Centrifuges, in
other terms, are machines that spin uranium oxide to extract usable
isotopes.
You want to get rid of the great majority of uranium that isn't useful
in nuclear reactions.

9. And actually just leave a little amount of the nice stuff.
As part of a 2015 nuclear deal, Tehran promised to allow inspectors
to monitor its nuclear facilities, restrict the amount of uranium it has
to 300 kilogrammes, and limit enrichment to no more than 3.67
percent.
However, once the US withdrew from the accord and reimposed
sanctions in 2018, Iran started to exceed that limit.
This year, Iran claimed that it would restrict inspections to places
such as Natanz, where it enriches uranium to 4.5 percent.
At 5%, you've got reactor fuel. At 20%, you have frightening reactor
fuel. And at 90%, you have the raw materials for a bomb.
In February of this year, Tehran said that it may signi
fi
cantly improve
its enrichment levels. (Speaking in a foreign language) - If you
enrich to say 5%, it may seem that you haven't gotten very far on
the road to 90% for a bomb, but going from 0% to 5% is around half
the labour that it will take to get to 90%.
So, if you have an enrichment capability, you will be able to enrich
to levels that would be required for a nuclear weapon.
And there is one location where Iran has already advanced
enrichment to the next level. Fordow. It was built in secrecy and
only found in 2009 by spy services. - Fordow is much smaller.
much more in line with the scale of a nuclear weapons complex.
And its enrichment halls are hidden under a mountain, making it
incredibly tough to assault.
So, when Fordow was released, I believe most of us looked at the
attributes of that facility and concluded, "That seems more like
something you'd construct if you intended to develop a weapon than
it does if you're intending to produce fuel for a power plant."
Under the 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran paused production at
Fordow, but in 2021, it said that it would restart uranium enrichment
to 20%.
It claims to be enriching to this level for one of its research reactors
in Tehran, and that the facility is underground due to the possibility
of a US or Israeli attack.
All of these characteristics point to the notion that the Fordow plant
was most likely built to manufacture this material for a weapons
programme if Iran chose to pursue the bomb.

10. Another critical phase in the weapon's development is the capacity
to transform enriched uranium into a metal. Iran also has a uranium
metal factory in Isfahan.
This is particularly alarming given that uranium metal is another of
these dual-use locations. Iran claims to be working on this
technique in order to create uranium metal fuel for its research
reactor.
So far, inspectors believe Iran has only built 3.6 grammes of
uranium metal, considerably less than the tens of kilogrammes
required for a bomb, and it's of a purity below weapons grade, but
it's still in violation of the 2015 nuclear accord, which bans the
metal's manufacture entirely.
I believe the facility as a whole is basically civilian. One of the 50/50
processes is the production of uranium metal.
I'd rather you didn't do stuff like that. Iran has numerous more sites,
including one in Iraq, where it may be able to generate plutonium.
Analysts anticipated in early 2021 that Iran may have built a nuclear
weapon in nine months to two years.
However, other experts believe that reducing inspections may
reduce that timeline.
I don't believe Iran would rush for a bomb anytime soon, but in this
limbo, Iran will undoubtedly attempt to maintain the nuclear
capabilities and materials required to pursue a weapon in the future
if it so chooses.
Iran has made a number of remarks that Western nations have
taken as a threat.
Analysts believe Iran's rhetoric, violations of
the 2015 nuclear deal, and rocket launches
are all aimed at one thing:
Getting on the president of the United States' agenda and
negotiating the lifting of sanctions as international pressure and the
pandemic have thrown the country into a deep economic crisis.
It has been quite open and forthcoming about the measures it
wants to break, and it has alerted the International Atomic Energy
Agency of such infractions ahead of time so that they may be
monitored.

11. This indicates that these steps are about gaining leverage and
applying pressure, rather than a rush to nuclear weapons.
Russia is obstructing the Iran nuclear agreement because the
Kremlin is concerned about its oil revenue.
Moscow makes last-minute demands as Tehran vows to increase oil
output and the market avoids Russian petroleum.
Moscow is making last-minute demands that might derail an
international nuclear agreement with Iran—and the timing is unlikely
to be accidental, given the Kremlin's concern over the mounting
danger to its vital oil income after its invasion of Ukraine.
International negotiators from the permanent
fi
ve members of the
United Nations Security Council, Germany, and the European Union
had hoped to reach an agreement with Tehran on Saturday to
restrict Iran's nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief for the
Islamic Republic.
An agreement like this would allow considerable amounts of Iranian
crude oil back into global energy markets in the coming months,
which might cause problems for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The restoration of Iranian supplies would help mitigate market
turbulence and price rises if the West increased sanctions against
Moscow for the Ukraine con
fl
ict and banned Russian crude
shipments.
The sale of oil is essential to Russia's
fi
nances.
Although Western nations have not yet directly attacked oil and gas,
they have said that they are willing to do so, and several oil dealers
have already begun to impose an effective embargo.
At the Iran negotiations, Russia is requesting assurances from the
US that sanctions imposed on the Kremlin in response to its
invasion of Ukraine would not impede its commerce with Iran.
This new demand, which one Western senior of
fi
cial described as a
possible "trap," may derail discussions aimed at resuming a 2015
agreement on Iran's nuclear activities.
It has added another twist to a long-running drama in which nuclear
negotiations have almost collapsed on several occasions.
After 11 months of talks, negotiators believe they are on the verge
of reaching a new Iran deal.

12. Moscow would transfer surplus enriched uranium out of Iran and
help with the conversion of Iran's Fordow nuclear reactor into a
research centre, among other things.
However, with the international community trying to cut economic
links with Russia as a result of its attack on Ukraine, Moscow says it
needs guarantees that it would still be able to pro
fi
t from a
resurrected Iran deal.
"We have requested a formal commitment... that the present
procedure initiated by the US does not jeopardise our right to free
and complete trade, economic and investment cooperation, and
military-technical collaboration with the Islamic Republic," Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday.
What is the primary role?
The issue is whether Moscow is requesting sanctions relief in order
to ful
fi
l its essential role in executing a renegotiated nuclear
agreement, or whether it is a ruse to seek wider sanctions relief,
according to diplomats. Western authorities looked to be perplexed
as to which of the two scenarios was at work.
"If they extend the scope of sanctions exclusions, we will have a
political issue rather than a technical one, which might be fatal to
the accord," the senior source said.
Another senior Western source said that if Russia's demands went
beyond sanctions exemptions in order to ful
fi
l their part in executing
a restored nuclear deal, they might possibly "hostage the whole
accord and put their relationship with China at jeopardy."
Beijing currently imports considerable quantities of Iranian oil and
will do so signi
fi
cantly more if the nuclear deal is revived.
The sanctions on Ukraine, according to the US State Department,
are "unrelated" to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),
as the Iran agreement is technically called.
"The additional Russia-related penalties are unconnected to the
JCPOA and should have no in
fl
uence on its prospective
implementation," a representative for the US State Department
stated.
"We continue to work with Russia to restore full implementation of
the JCPOA." Russia and Iran both have a vested interest in
preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

13. The fear of new Ukraine-related sanctions is already affecting
Russian oil earnings. According to Bloomberg, about three-quarters
of Russian oil commerce has been halted as a result of the Ukraine
incursion, according consultancy Energy Aspects.
Russia has been exporting roughly 5 million barrels per day, which
accounts for about 5% of world demand, according to the report.
Meanwhile, Iran aims to deliver more than 2 million barrels per day.
"It's dif
fi
cult to determine if this is a technical blip or a political turn,"
said Ali Vaez, International Crisis Group's Iran Project Director.
"The collapse of the JCPOA is not in Russia's medium to long-term
interests," Vaez added, "even though it would assist keep global
energy prices high in the short run as a method of placing pressure
on the West."
"As soon as the nuclear talks in Vienna are over, we will be able to
attain our maximum oil production capability in less than one or two
months," Iran's oil minister, Javad Owji, said on Thursday, according
to Reuters, quoting SHANA, the of
fi
cial oil ministry news agency.
Iran produced an average of 2.4 million barrels per day in 2021,
with intentions to boost that to 3.8 million bpd if sanctions are
repealed.
Europe and the United States were becoming concerned about
rising oil costs as a consequence of Russia's foray into Ukraine.
According to Eurasia Group's Iran analyst Henry Rome, "the con
fl
ict
puts enormous pressure on Western policymakers to reach a
solution that delivers more Iranian oil into the market to temper
rising oil prices and likely future sanctions and disruptions."
Analysts believe that reviving the Iran agreement would assist to
stabilise the oil market.
Western authorities have recently said that negotiations were close
to reaching a deal, stressing that just a few unresolved concerns
needed to be handled.
The breadth of sanctions relief, including Iran's demand that the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be removed from Washington's
terror sanctions list, is one of the lingering dif
fi
culties.
"We are extremely close to a deal," British top negotiator Stephanie
Al-Qaq tweeted before going for what looked to be last meetings in
London. "We now need to take a few last steps."
Why was the meeting rescheduled?

14. Negotiations had progressed to the point that preparations to
conclude the agreement could be seen outside Palais Coburg, the
primary location of the negotiations in Vienna.
Additional barriers have been erected around the luxury hotel in
preparation for a conference of ministers from Russia, China, Iran,
the United Kingdom, Germany, and France.
Invitations were even sent out more than a week ago in expectation
of the of
fi
cial acceptance of a restored accord at the ministerial
level; however, that meeting has now been postponed.
Western negotiators have cautioned in recent months that Iran is
just a few weeks away from having enough
fi
ssile material to build a
single nuclear bomb.
They contended that time was running out for the negotiations to be
effective since Iran's nuclear developments were undermining the
JCPOA's core foundation.
To emphasise this point, the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) said in its most recent classi
fi
ed quarterly report, which was
sent to member nations on March 3 and obtained by POLITICO,
that Iran has increased its stock of 60 percent enriched material.
That's "a hair's width away" from weapons grade, according to
Eurasia Group's Rome.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine loomed big in the last days of the
discussions, with of
fi
cials underlining the necessity to rapidly clinch
the pact as they began to scurry to cope with the repercussions
from this assault on European soil.
During the previous eleven months, diplomats were able to shield
the sensitive talks from global developments, but the recent scale of
Russian aggression in Ukraine made close interaction between
Russia's chief negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov and US Special Envoy for
Iran Robert Malley more dif
fi
cult by the hour.
Meanwhile, Iran promised to furnish the IAEA with materials that
would explain doubts about its previous nuclear weapons
development, possibly eliminating a signi
fi
cant impediment to the
nuclear deal's reinstatement.
This agreement was struck on Saturday during a visit to Tehran by
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.
Grossi and Iran's nuclear head, Mohammad Eslami, agreed in a
joint statement to "accelerate and enhance their collaboration and

15. conversation targeted at the settlement of the concerns," with the
goal of ending the investigation by June, when Grossi will report to
the IAEA Board of Governors.
Iran had requested that the investigation into Iran's previous nuclear
weapons programme be completed once and for all as a condition
for Tehran's readmission to the 2015 nuclear agreement.
The UN nuclear watchdog is investigating the origin of decades-old
uranium traces discovered by IAEA inspectors inside Iran at various
undeclared locations in 2019 and 2020.
Grossi told reporters at the Vienna airport upon his return from
Tehran on Saturday evening that "there is no arti
fi
cial deadline,
there is no pre-de
fi
ned outcome," emphasising that the IAEA would
continue to press Iran on those questions beyond the June deadline
if Tehran's answers were inconclusive.
The IAEA has long suspected that the undeclared sites were
operational in the early 2000s and has pressed on credible
responses from Iran about the origin of the evidence.
Inspectors on the ground discovered the traces after reviewing
intelligence information obtained by Israeli Mossad operatives in a
high-risk operation inside Iran in 2018.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was
fi
rst agreed upon in
Vienna in 2015 by the
fi
ve permanent members of the United
Nations Security Council — the United States, the United Kingdom,
France, Russia, and China – as well as Germany. The European
Union served as the discussions' mediator and organiser.
Former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from
the accord in 2018 and re-imposed nuclear-related penalties, as
well as additional ones relating to terrorism and human-rights
violations.
As a result, Iran started to gradually expand its nuclear programme
outside the scope of the JCPOA. Iran maintains that its nuclear
programme is purely benign.
Conclusion
The wave of unilateral US sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran
must be repealed in order to salvage the JCPOA and break the
present deadlock that is impeding the restart of talks.
A fresh momentum is required on the international scene, with
principled diplomacy and result-oriented leadership from important

16. players. The European nuclear agreement participants play a
critical role.
While they have withstood the Trump administration's intense push
to quit the JCPOA, they have failed to meet their own duties under
the nuclear agreement.
However, political justi
fi
cations based mostly on visible and secret
American intimidation efforts do not seem to be succeeding any
more.
The European signatories to the JCPOA should now concentrate on
resurrecting the 2015 agreement.
Diplomatic manoeuvrings to obtain more in
fl
uence outside the
parameters of the agreement will be unproductive.
In this context, the EU foreign policy establishment should focus its
efforts on reaf
fi
rming Biden's willingness to return to the JCPOA in
good faith, with veri
fi
able complete adherence to the original deal's
conditions.
This seems to be the only possible method to reverse the failing
"maximum pressure" strategy that has directly contributed to the
present diplomatic standoff.
It remains to be seen how President Biden's Administration will
carry out his promised policies, especially if he faces internal
pressure from oppositional partisan factions within the larger US
political system, as well as external pressure from Israel and Saudi
Arabia, to act contrary to his stated foreign policy objectives.
References
1. Russia Blocks Iran Nuclear Deal as Kremlin Worries About Oil
Income – POLITICO (2022, March 5).POLITICO, https://
www.politico.eu/article/russia-obstructs-iran-nuclear-deal-as-
the-kremlin-frets-over-oil-income/.
2. Iran’s Nuclear Program: What We Know About Tehran’s Key
Sites | WSJ. (2021, March 8). YouTube. https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP2L3Qtim0E
3. The US and Russia agree that Iran should not have a nuclear
weapon. (2021, June 17). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=6OguGzGiIzs.

17. 4. Wikimedia Commons has a page dedicated to Iran-Russia
relations.(2014, December 22). Wikipedia, https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Russia_relations.
5. Wikimedia Commons has a page dedicated to Arab League–
Iran relations.(August 1, 2010)Wikipedia, https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Arab_League%E2%80%93Iran_relations.
6. Board, T. E. (2022, March 6). The Iran-Russia Nuclear Nexus,
Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-Russia-
nuclear-deal-jcpoa-sanctions-relief-ukraine-invasion-war-crisis-
putin-tehran-middle-east-evade-11646587769.
7. (March 7, 2022).Russia Postpones Iran Nuclear Deal in
Response to Western Sanctions | News | The Times Russia
postpones the Iran nuclear deal in response to Western
sanctions | News | The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/
article/russia-delays-iran-nuclear-deal-with-new-demands-in-
response-to-western-sanctions-ltdh0cq63.
8. A Nuclear Deal With Iran Could Be Signed Within Days | DW
News (2022, March 3). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=JHGOo0ciOOw
9. How the Iran Nuclear Deal Works, Explained in 3 Minutes.
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