Macron Is Doing Biden’s Dirty Work in Undermining a Return to Iran Deal as It Was

Iran rejected nuclear talks with Iran that would include countries not involved in negotiating the 2015 deal, like Saudi Arabia.

“The nuclear accord is a multilateral international agreement ratified by UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which is non-negotiable and parties to it are clear and unchangeable,” Saeed Khatibzadeh, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, said on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabiya TV reported the comments from Macron on Friday. “Negotiations with Iran will be very strict and it will be necessary to include our partners in the region in the nuclear agreement, including Saudi Arabia,” the French president said.

Macron’s call for “strict” negotiations is a sign that France does not favor a return to the 2015 deal, known as the JCPOA. But Iran has been clear that they want the original agreement they negotiated, which was violated by the US in 2018 when the Trump administration re-imposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Iran has also rejected demands from the Biden administration to come back into compliance with the JCPOA before the US does. Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif reminded the Biden administration that it was the US who violated the deal, and so it is on the US to revive it.

Reality check for @SecBlinken:
The US
-violated JCPOA
-blocked food/medicine to Iranians
-punished adherence to UNSCR 2231
Throughout that sordid mess, Iran
-abided by JCPOA
-only took foreseen remedial measures
Now, who should take 1st step?
Never forget Trump's maximum failure.

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 28, 2021

While on the campaign trail, President Biden said he would return to diplomacy with Iran to revive the JCPOA. But over a week into his presidency, all of the crippling economic sanctions the Trump administration imposed on Iran are still in effect.

Source: Antiwar.com