On his first full day on the job, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed the ’s position that if Iran were to become compliant with the terms of the now defunct Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA or the “Iran deal”), the U.S. would re-enter it too. The Trump administration had pulled out of the deal in 2018.
Also read: Editorial | The Iran challenge
“ With regard to Iran, President Biden has been very clear in saying that if Iran comes back into full compliance with its obligations under the JCPOA, the United States would do the same thing and then we would use that as a platform to build, with our allies and partners, what we called a longer and stronger agreement and to deal with a number of other issues that are deeply problematic in the relationship with Iran,” Mr. Blinken told reporters during his first briefing as Secretary.
“ But we are a long ways from that point. 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 in time for us then to assess whether it was meeting its obligations,” Mr. Blinken said. The Secretary said he would constitute a team of experts to advise on how to engage with Iran, should Iran come back into compliance with the JCPOA.
Mr. Blinken, who had said at his confirmation hearing that America would approach the world with “humility and confidence”, told reporters that the new team would be “ constantly questioning our own assumptions and premises” , not engaging in group think and that there would be self-reflection and self-criticism when confronted with foreign policy issues.
