US Secretary of State says it would take some time before America joins Iran Nuke Deal

US State Secretary Antony J Blinken, on January 27, said that the country would return to the Iran Nuclear deal only after Tehran meets its commitments, warning of a long road until verification. While the newly-appointed diplomat reiterated President Joe Biden’s commitment to return to the deal, he said that Iran was still “out of compliance” on many fronts and it would take “some time” before fraught talks end. Speaking at a news conference, Blinken also rejected Iranian pressure for the United States to act first.

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"Iran is out of compliance on a number of fronts. And it would take some time, should it make the decision to do so, for it to come back into compliance and time for us then to assess whether it was meeting its obligations. We're not there yet, to say the least." Blinken told a news conference.

The deal, signed in 2015 between Iran and other major world powers, including the United States, France, Britain, China, Russia, and Germany (P5+1), saw Washington lifting economic sanctions against Tehran and in return, the Islamic Republic agreed to bring down its uranium enrichment programme. However, Donald Trump withdrew the US from the pact in 2018, calling the structure of the deal "rotten". The Islamic Republic then retaliated by reducing its compliance with the deal.  

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Tehran's fear 

Blinken further said that President Biden has “very clearly” asserted his stance to rejoin if Iran comes back into full compliance with its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Deal. However, Tehran which fears that America would not issue sanction relief even after compliance has called on Washington to take the first step. Last month, Iranian foreign minister Javed Zarif had asked the US administration to revoke sanction on its oil exports which would help the administration to pull the oil-dependent country out of the pandemic induced crisis.

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