This week the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee debated almost for 60 minutes against the revival of the Iran Nuclear Deal proposal. During this debate, they stated that the advancement of Iran in the field of nuclear Programme is not safe and hence require much more authority and watch. On the same issue on February 1, 2022, an influential key democrat and the United States Senator Bob Menendez stated that “At this point, we seriously have to ask: What exactly are we trying to salvage?” The negotiation to restore the deal and upliftment of sanctions are in the final stages and Senator Menendez is not the only one who has been raising their voice over the deal and have also time and again warned President Joe Biden over the negative turn out of the deal. On Tuesday, this week 33 republicans have sent a letter to the President stating that topics like ballistic missile programmes are failed to be addressed in the new agreement and also they regarded the upliftment of sanctions as well as waivers like JCPOA as a wrong move.
On 8th February 2022, the eighth and what is being regarded as the final stage of the Iran nuclear deal resumed in Vienna. The talks have been already been going on continuously over the last few weeks now are almost at the finishing point. Over the last few weeks although there has been progressing over the revival of the 2015 landmark accord yet the final decision about the same has yet to come. The US administration under President Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and imposed tough economic sanctions over the country, prompting the Islamic republic to begin pulling back from its commitments under the deal and step up its nuclear activities.
The U.S State Department has already decided on waiving sanctions on Iran’s civil nuclear programme but are waiting for approval from JCPOA on some technical issues. This will allow other countries as well as companies to participate in Iran’s civil nuclear programme. The following process won’t be against any and also not pose a situation of sanctions and create a better environment to settle the situation. This step is being seen as a positive sign for the settlement and negotiation of the deal. The Biden administration has regarded the Trump administration as a failure to settle the deal and also the fact that it is important to settle the situation so that Tehran doesn’t develop a nuclear weapon.
Negar Mortazavi, an Iranian-American journalist and analyst has stated, “This is a clear signal, as we also know from other reporting, that a deal is in sight. The negotiators are close to the end goal.” Further, “And that’s why the opposition is growing louder – because they see it as something imminent and want to stop it, as they tried to do in 2015.”