Former US President Donald Trump imposed more than 1,000 sanctions on Iran while he was president, but one of them may be a “poison pill” that spoils his successor’s efforts to revive nuclear deal of 2015 designed to prevent Iran from building an atomic bomb.
Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement in 2018 andThe Iranian Revolutionary Guard was includeda powerful arm of the Iranian regime, was blacklisted as a foreign terrorist organization in 2019. Now negotiations aimed at renewing the nuclear deal are deadlocked over sanctions with Iran demanding that the Revolutionary Guards be removed from the terrorism list according to a current official and three sources familiar with the discussions told the network. American NBC News.
From the Vienna negotiations (archive from AFP)
The sources pointed out that discussions between Iran and world powers came dramatically close to concluding an agreement in late February, but faltered after Russia raised new concerns amid Iranian officials’ pressure to lift the terrorist designation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
President Joe Biden’s administration has offered a rating upgrade proposal in exchange for assurances from Iran Not to take revenge on American officials The most prominent Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, was killed in 2020 in a US drone strike in Baghdad, sources told NBC News.
But Iran rejected the proposal, and responded about two weeks ago with a counter-proposal, and its details are still unclear. The sources said that the Biden administration has not yet formally responded to the Iranian counter-proposal. “The ball is in Biden’s court,” a source familiar with the discussions said.
Qassem Soleimani (AP)
Now administration officials are debating how to proceed, realizing that removing the Revolutionary Guards from the terrorist list would provoke a major backlash in Congress and among allies in the Middle East. “There is no doubt that this is a Trump trap for Biden,” said Ali Fayez of the International Crisis Group, a think-tank.
“It is up to Iran to resolve the impasse,” a senior US official in the Biden administration noted. “The president has made it clear that he will do what is in the interests of the security of the United States and the burden here is really on Iran at this point, particularly on this issue.”
Critics have accused the Trump administration of imposing toxic sanctions that would make it difficult for the next president to restore the deal. But officials at the time said the sanctions were aimed at striking Iran as part of a “maximum pressure” campaign to force more concessions from Tehran and weaken the regime.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (archive – AFP)
potential deal
A current US official and two sources familiar with the matter say that the administration is not prepared to remove the Revolutionary Guards from the terrorist list without Iran offering something of equal value in return.
Iran has previously rejected US proposals to hold talks on Iran’s missile program or its actions in the Middle East. From Washington’s point of view, the IRGC’s status has nothing to do with the nuclear deal, and thus requires Iran to make concessions on other issues.
A State Department spokesperson said that if Iran wants to lift sanctions that “beyond the JCPOA, it will need to address our concerns beyond the JCPOA.”
mutual threats
On the second anniversary of Soleimani’s assassination, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi and his successor, General Ismail Qaani, vowed to take revenge on Trump and other former officials for targeting the Iranian general.
Iran also imposed “sanctions” on more than 50 Americans it said were linked to Soleimani’s killing, which it described as a “terrorist” act. The list included former senior Trump administration officials and senior military officers, including the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and the former head of US Central Command, General Frank McKenzie.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, responded with an unusual statement, saying the United States would protect all Americans facing threats from Iran and warning Tehran that it would face “serious consequences” if it attacked any Americans.
Iran continues its terrorist activities
In their annual threat assessment released last month, US intelligence agencies said Iran would continue to pose a threat to Americans by plotting terrorist attacks and that Tehran remained committed to developing networks within the United States.
Contrary to public statements by US officials about the danger of a breakdown in the nuclear talks, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the nuclear negotiations were “progressing well.”
Henry Roma, Vice President of Research and Iran Analyst at Eurasia Group commented, “Iran seems confident that they have a strong negotiating hand and can extract more concessions from the West. “They’re not desperate at this point. I think they’re probably trying to use that to their advantage to see what they can get, especially in light of the war in Europe and high energy prices.”