According to Newsweek, Iranian President Rouhani vowed that if the troubled Iran nuclear agreement is to restart, the incoming U.S. Biden administration will be forced to make concessions.
“Iran will seek to lift U.S. sanctions on Tehran, as Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei requested the day before,” Rouhani said Thursday at the launch ceremony of the transportation and urban development project. U.S. media pointed out that since President Trump’s defeat in the November election, the United States has increased sanctions against Iran, and the assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in November, Iran’s leaders responded with tough words and expanded nuclear technology activities.
According to Iran’s Mehr news agency, Rouhani said: “I have no doubt that Iran’s three-year resistance will force the future US government to succumb to the people, resume its promise and break sanctions.”
Trump tried unsuccessfully to force Iran to return to the negotiating table and reach a stricter version of the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (i.e. the Iran Nuclear Agreement (JCPOA) signed during the Obama era), but failed.
On the contrary, U.S. sanctions and military operations have led Iran to declare that it will no longer comply with any restrictions on the Iran nuclear agreement. Iran currently has 12 times the reserves of enriched uranium than allowed by the agreement, and has taken action to prevent international verification. Iran has also increased its enrichment of uranium to 20%, which is another technical step for 90% enriched uranium that reaches the weapon grade.
Iran has also more than tripled the budget of the Defense Innovation and Research Organization, formerly led by the assassinated nuclear scientist Fahrizad.
Newsweek said that these measures will make Biden’s situation more difficult. Biden, who has publicly expressed his desire to restart the JCPOA, has evaluated the agreement as a major diplomatic achievement in the United States during his Obama administration as vice president.
Rouhani said that Iran will try to invalidate the sanctions and seek opportunities for the United States to lift them. Rouhani said: “Our first priority is to try to make sanctions ineffective or less effective. We are trying to lift the sanctions, and as Khamenei said yesterday, this action cannot be delayed for even an hour.”
Rouhani also said on Wednesday that while Iran is “not excited” about the incoming Biden administration, he added that the Iranian government is pleased that Trump, who he calls him a “terrorist”, is leaving office.
