World


Iran Resists Biden’s Frantic Efforts to Seal Nuke Deal


Despite new concessions, Tehran hasn’t budged.


F BY FRED FLEITZ


rom april 2021 until june of this year, efforts by Europe, the U.S., Russia, and China to reverse President


Donald J. Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran (the JCPOA) were stalled. Trump criticized the JCPOA as


“the worst deal ever” for its weak veri- fication provisions, failure to address the full range of threats posed by Iran, and short duration. Even though the Biden administra-


tion made concessions to Iran that were so generous (and dangerous) that three Biden officials resigned from the negotiating team, Iran would not budge.


European states regrouped during


the summer and began negotiations to break the impasse. The result was a draft four-stage agreement to “reimplement” the JCPOA over 165 days. It has come closer than previous attempts over the last 17 months to resolving differences and coming to a resolution. Here’s what we know about the


draft:


THE FIRST STAGE, also called “Day Zero,” is the day the agreement is signed or agreed to. To reach this stage, both sides are to agree to release American prisoners held by Iran in exchange for unfreezing about $7 bil- lion in Iranian funds from South Kore- an banks and a partial lifting of U.S. sanctions. In addition, Iran is to halt declared


nuclear activities which violate the JCPOA but would be allowed to retain excess enriched uranium.


50 NEWSMAX | NOVEMBER 2022


THE SECOND STAGE, Congress would begin approval of the new agreement no more than five days after it is agreed to. The House and Senate would have


30 days to approve it with a simple majority. If Congress rejected it, Presi- dent Joe Biden could approve it using his veto override power. This procedure violates Article II,


Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which states the Senate must ratify treaties with a two-thirds vote.


THE THIRD STAGE, 60 days after Con- gress approves the agreement, the United States will inform the U.N. Security Council and the Internation- al Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its intention to implement the new nuclear deal. The U.S. would also give a one-time


sanctions exemption allowing Iran to sell 50 million barrels of oil and would lift sanctions on energy and aviation transactions with Iran.


THE FOURTH STAGE, to begin 60 days after the third, is to be known as “Reimplementation Day,” when full implementation of the new agreement would begin. The U.S. and Iran will issue joint declarations stating their commit- ment to the deal. The U.S. would lift “harsh remaining sanctions.” It is unclear whether this would include non-nuclear sanctions, such as those concerning terrorism. Iran will remove “surplus enrich-


ment infrastructure” and place most of its advanced uranium centrifuges in storage.


WHY THE DRAFT NEW NUCLEAR DEAL HAS STALLED After several rounds of revisions, Iran responded on Sept. 1 with what a


European official described as “a dis- appointing response . . . and definitely an unreasonable one.” Iran’s new demands reportedly


were a guarantee that a future U.S. president would not withdraw from the agreement and a halt to IAEA investigations of evidence of covert nuclear weapons work. Iran now appears to want these investigations closed before an agree- ment. The current impasse appears to


be, at least in part, because Biden administration officials began taking a tougher line in the nuclear talks in late August, amid growing opposition from Congress and Israel. Many on Capitol Hill were upset


at the financial windfall Iran would receive from the deal and its failure to halt Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism, meddling in regional disputes, and missile program. Several objected that Iran would


not give up its advanced centrifuges, developed in violation of the JCPOA. They were also concerned that


Iran used the last 19 months of nego- tiations to surge its nuclear program, including enriching uranium to 60%


ATTA KENARE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES


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