Impending Iran nuclear deal: 5 things you need to know

The deal emerging between Biden administration and Tehran looks a lot like the one from the Obama years and focuses on suspending uranium enrichment.

By Lisa Daftari, FOREIGN DESK

Reports are growing that the West and Iran are nearing a deal to freeze Tehran’s nuclear program. Here are the five things you most to need to know about the possible deal:

1. It’s Very Similar to the Old Deal

The goal of the new Iran nuclear deal is to mirror the previous objectives from the 2015 Obama-era deal between the United States and its European counterparts. The new impending agreement resembles the 2015 deal in that it tries to restrict Iran’s uranium enrichment and other nuclear activities while also agreeing to lift sanctions against Iran’s oil production and exportation.

Countries like Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany, and the European Union (EU), all signatory to the 2015 nuclear agreement, are now hurrying to draft another accord with Iran before time runs out, making the agreement void.

2. Tries to Suspend Uranium Enrichment

The original 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) under the Obama Administration tried to prohibit Iran from enriching its uranium stockpile at 3.67% fissile purity in 15 years. Today, however, Iran has boosted its uranium stockpile to 60%, which is the necessary amount needed to create a nuclear warhead. The new agreement explicitly states that Iran will return its enrichment activities of nuclear fissile to 3.67%, which will be difficult to enforce by U.S. and European diplomats.

3. Unfreezes Iran’s Monetary Assets

Like the 2015 deal, the new agreement would unfreeze the Iranian regime’s financial assets in European and Asian banks in exchange for halting nuclear enrichment and other nuclear activities.

U.S. officials such as Robert Malley, the head negotiator for this new agreement, have also stated that the regime can have its financial assets unfrozen in other foreign banks if the government frees Western political prisoners in their jails. If these overseas assets were to be unfrozen as stipulated by the agreement, it would most likely mean that the Iranian government could finance terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.

4. Grants Oil Wavers on Iran’s Oil Exports

Instead of lifting sanctions on Iranian oil production, the U.S. will grant waivers on Iranian oil exports. The Biden administration is basing its move on the previous actions of the Obama and Trump administrations, which issued and renewed two-to-three-month sanction waivers on Iran’s oil exports while adhering to the 2015 nuclear agreement.

In 2019, the Trump administration exited the 2015 JCPOA and completely removed the sanction waivers, preventing Iranian oil from being sold and exported.

5. No Face-to-Face Meetings

Ever since the Biden administration formally announced it would be restarting nuclear talks with Iran, the Iranian government and its officials have refused to meet with the U.S. face-to-face to discuss a new agreement. Iran’s refusal to meet with the U.S. today is entirely different from its actions six years ago when Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and others in the Iran delegation met with John Kerry to begin talks. Instead, the Iranian officials have met with European and Russian officials to discuss new terms.
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Prime minister says renegotiated agreement would see Iran rein in its nuclear activity for two and a half years, rather than the 10 years under the previous agreement.

By  AP and ILH Staff

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett | File photo: Emil Salman

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday that the emerging deal over Iran’s nuclear program is less stringent than the previous one, which was signed in 2015.

World powers have been negotiating in Vienna in a bid to revive the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which granted Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. Israel vehemently opposed that accord and has urged negotiators to take a hard line against the Islamic republic in the current round of talks.

Iranian lawmakers, meanwhile, have urged Iran’s president to obtain guarantees from the US and European countries that they won’t withdraw from the deal after it is renegotiated.

“The emerging new deal is shorter and weaker than the previous one,” Bennett told a meeting of his Cabinet.

He said the deal would see Iran rein in its nuclear activity for two and a half years, rather than the 10 years under the previous deal, granting Tehran sanctions relief for only a brief slowdown of its nuclear activity. After that, Bennett said, the regime could develop and install “stadiums of centrifuges.”

The prime minister also said that sanctions relief would free up cash Iran will use to fund its proxies along Israel’s borders.

“Israel is in any case preparing and is ready for the day after, in every parameter, so that we can know how to protect Israeli civilians by ourselves,” he said.

Israel has urged an improved deal that places tighter restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program and addresses its long-range missile program and its support for hostile proxies along Israel’s borders, like Hezbollah.

Jerusalem also insisted that the negotiations must be accompanied by a “credible” military threat to ensure that Iran does not delay indefinitely.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told participants at the annual Munich Security Conference on Saturday that the talks have come a long way over the past 10 months and “all elements for a conclusion of the negotiations are on the table.” But he also criticized Iran for stepping up its enrichment and restricting inspections by monitors from the UN nuclear agency.

Iran’s foreign minister said that it’s up to Western countries to show flexibility and “the ball is now in their court.”