Biden caves to Russia on sanctions in new Iran nuclear deal, will enrich Russia: Report
The Biden administration will reportedly lift certain energy sanctions on Russia to comply with the forthcoming renegotiated Iran nuclear deal.
What are the details?
The revived Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, otherwise known as the Iran nuclear deal, includes American concessions negotiated by the Biden administration that immunize Moscow from certain sanctions deployed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, the Washington Free Beacon reported, citing Russian and Iranian documents.
Specifically, the new deal will allow Rosatom, Russia's top state-controlled energy company, to "cash in on a $10 billion contract" to help Tehran expand its Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, according to the Free Beacon. Bushehr is one of the most controversial nuclear sites in Iran.
Thus, the new JCPOA establishes a "sanctions evasion hub" providing Russian companies with money, essentially counteracting energy sanctions deployed after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
A State Department official confirmed to the Free Beacon the U.S. will "not sanction Russian participation in nuclear projects that are part of resuming full implementation of the JCPOA."
"The United States will take actions as necessary to ensure that U.S. sanctions do not apply to the implementation of JCPOA nuclear-related projects and activities by non-U.S. individuals and entities," the official explained. "Perhaps it is now clear to Moscow that, as we have said publicly, the new Russia-related sanctions are unrelated to the JCPOA and should not have any impact on its implementation."
The Russian Foreign Ministry also confirmed the development.
"Additions were made to the text of the future agreement on #JCPOA restoration to ensure that all the JCPOA-related projects, esp. with Russian participation, as well as Bushehr NPP, are protected from negative impact of anti-Russian restrictions by US & EU," the ministry's Vienna mission said on Twitter.
6/8\nAdditions were made to the text of the future agreement on #JCPOA restoration to ensure that all the JCPOA-related projects, esp. with Russian participation, as well as Bushehr NPP, are protected from negative impact of anti-Russian restrictions by US & EU.https://twitter.com/mission_rf/status/1503875174990503938\u00a0\u2026— Russian Mission Vienna (@Russian Mission Vienna) 1647386818
The U.S. is also lifting sanctions on Iran.
As part of the deal, the U.S. will lift economic sanctions on Tehran that prevented the country from accessing funds held in South Korean and Japanese banks. Unfreezing the funds will allow Iran to pay Russia for working on its nuclear program.
Additionally, Axios reported the U.S. is considering removing Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from terrorist lists. The IRCG is known to fund terrorism against the U.S. and its allies across the Middle East.
Anything else?
Republican lawmakers have been extremely critical of Biden's administration for renegotiating the JCPOA over fears the U.S. would give up too many concessions.
Unfortunately, those fears will probably be realized once the deal is finalized.
In fact, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's lead negotiator, recently bragged that Moscow, Tehran, and Beijing essentially took the U.S. to the cleaners in getting what they wanted from the deal at the expense of America.
"I am absolutely sincere in this regard. Iran got much more than it could expect — much more," Ulyanov said. "Realistically speaking, Iran got more than frankly I expected, others expected. This is a matter of fact."
Former Israeli PM warns Americans that new Iran nuclear deal formed under Biden is 'even worse than its predecessor'
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the United States on Sunday against entering into a new nuclear deal with Iran.
What is the background?
The Biden administration joined negotiations last year to re-establish the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the "Iran nuclear deal," after then-President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the accord in 2018.
Two weeks ago, the State Department said a new deal was imminent. However, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has complicated the negotiation process, and now the deal could fall through. Russia has been a lead negotiator on the new deal.
What did Netanyahu say?
As Israel's top leader at the time, Netanyahu vehemently opposed the Iran nuclear deal when it was first negotiated under the Obama administration. Iran, after all, refuses to recognize Israel's sovereignty and funds terrorist groups that attack Israel.
In a video published Sunday — the same day Iranian missiles struck an area around a U.S. consulate in northern Iraq — Netanyahu explained why the forthcoming deal is "downright dangerous."
"The desperate rush to sign this flawed nuclear agreement with Iran is not only absurd — it's downright dangerous," Netanyahu said.
"Yesterday, Iran fired missiles in the vicinity of the American consulate in Iraq, and the U.S. continues to charge ahead along with the other powers to sign a nuclear agreement that will give the Ayatollahs a nuclear arsenal," Netanyahu continued. "It would also relieve sanctions and give them hundreds of billions of dollars in order to continue the terror that they waged yesterday and wage every day throughout the Middle East and the world."
Netanyahu, a staunch supporter of the U.S., said the new deal negotiated under Biden "is even worse than its predecessor because in three years' time, under this agreement, Iran will be a threshold nuclear state. It will have enough enriched uranium to create dozens and dozens of nuclear bombs and it will have the ICBMs to deliver them to any place in the United States," he warned.
"That is ... unbelievable. It's not merely unacceptable, it endangers not only my country, Israel, but your country, the United States, and the entire world," Netanyahu continued. "We should not let an aggressive, rogue, terrorist regime like Iran have nuclear weapons."
"Have we learned nothing?" he asked.
Every American family should watch this video.pic.twitter.com/BVo5ZFJwKk— Benjamin Netanyahu (@Benjamin Netanyahu) 1647186297
Despite Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's lead negotiator on the revived JCPOA, boasting that Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran essentially took the U.S. to the cleaners, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman reiterated Sunday that moving forward with the Iran nuclear deal is the best way to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Iran nuclear deal talks put on 'pause' after Russia demands sanctions exemption
Negotiations on a revived Iran nuclear deal were put on "pause" Friday after Russia made several new demands and raised objections to the economic sanctions enacted as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine.
European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell Fontelles announced the delayed talks in a tweet, writing, "A pause in #ViennaTalks is needed, due to external factors." He added that the final text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for Iran's nuclear program is "essentially ready and on the table," pending resumed talks. Since assuming power, President Joe Biden's administration has worked with European partners, including Russia, and Iran to hammer out the details of a new arrangement after President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal reached by the Obama administration.
As part of the new deal, the U.S. would end the harsh sanctions Trump imposed on Iran and in return Iran would scale back its nuclear program.
A pause in #ViennaTalks is needed, due to external factors. \n\nA final text is essentially ready and on the table.\n\nAs coordinator, I will, with my team, continue to be in touch with all #JCPOA participants and the U.S. to overcome the current situation and to close the agreement.— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@Josep Borrell Fontelles) 1646994651
According to the Washington Post, the negotiations were halted after Russia issued a series of demands Saturday for its trade deals with Iran to be exempted from U.S. sanctions. Russia says these exemptions must be included as a condition for participating in any revived nuclear deal.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov cited the "avalanche of aggressive sanctions [on Russia] that the west has started spewing out," and said, "This meant Moscow had to ask the US for guarantees first, requiring a clear answer that the new sanctions will not affect its rights under the nuclear deal.
“We requested that our US colleagues ... give us written guarantees at the minimum level of the secretary of state that the current [sanctions] process launched by the US will not in any way harm our right to free, fully fledged trade and economic and investment cooperation and military-technical cooperation with Iran,” he said, according to the Guardian.
Western officials have accused Russia of essentially taking the Iran nuclear deal hostage while the country continues its unjust war in Ukraine. Some are worried that Russia's late objections will prevent talks from resuming, which could kill the deal.
“It’s certainly serious. If you lose momentum at this late stage the dynamics shift in ways that it could become impossible to resume the talks,” said Esfandyar Batmanghelidj of the European Council on Foreign Relations," according to the Washington Post.
Republicans have lambasted President Biden for negotiating with Russia on the Iran deal while simultaneously insisting that Russia become an international "pariah" for continuing the invasion of Ukraine. At a press conference Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said the Iran deal would be "a massive win for Vladimir Putin" if it includes "a carveout" for Russia to trade with Iran without threat of sanctions. Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) called on Biden to walk away from the negotiations, and other GOP senators joined in with severe rebukes of the president.
Diplomats that spoke to the Washington Post said that informal talks are expected to continue and considerations will be made as to whether a final deal can be achieved without Russia. But Tehran has said it will not risk deteriorating relations with Russia by ignoring Moscow's concerns, making any deal difficult to achieve.
Top Russian diplomat brags about new Iran nuclear deal and suggests US taken to cleaners by China, Russia, and Iran
Russian envoy Mikhail Ulyanov celebrated the forthcoming new Iran nuclear deal in a recent interview, essentially saying the United States was taken to the cleaners by Iran, China, and Russia.
What is the background?
The Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was originally negotiated under the Obama administration. But then-President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the controversial deal in May 2018.
President Joe Biden, during his campaign and after his election, expressed willingness to re-enter the JCPOA and lift sanctions on Iran that were imposed by the Trump administration.
Diplomats officially returned to negotiation last year in hopes of reviving the plan.
What did Ulyanov say?
Ulyanov, the top Russian diplomat working on JCPOA negotiations, boasted in a recent interview that Iran received more in the forthcoming deal than even he expected.
"Iranian clerics are fighting for Iranian nuclear national interests like lions," Ulyanov said. "Indeed, I’m very serious. They fight for every comma, every word, and, as a rule, quite successfully. I must recognize that."
"I am absolutely sincere in this regard. Iran got much more than it could expect — much more," he added. "Realistically speaking, Iran got more than frankly I expected, others expected. This is a matter of fact."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ulyanov said that Beijing and Moscow worked together to achieve their goals within the JCPOA.
"Our Chinese friends were also very efficient and useful as co-negotiators," Ulyanov said. "We could rely on each other on many, many points. And on many, many points of joint differences we succeeded. I can recollect dozens of such cases, when on rather serious, significant questions, we managed together to get positive results close to what we wanted to achieve."
Shocking video: This is the lead Russian negotiator for the Iran nuclear talks, Mikhail Ulyanov. \n\nHe's bragging about how Russia, Iran, and China teamed up to deliver huge wins for Iran's nuclear program in Vienna negotiations.pic.twitter.com/oiTOgfh99i— POLARIS (@POLARIS) 1646574051
The totality of concessions made by the U.S. and western allied powers will not become clear until the deal is finalized.
However, the Jerusalem Post reported:
Among the concessions to Iran that Israel has been concerned about are allowing Iran to keep its advanced centrifuges even when they are out of use, and lifting the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization by the US, as well as rescinding all sanctions placed by the previous US administration, including those put in place due to terrorism and human rights violations.
Meanwhile, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, corroborated on Monday that a finalized deal is nearing completion as long as the Biden administration makes the concessions that Tehran demands, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
What is the US saying?
State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter said last week that "significant progress" had been made and a final deal is imminent.
"We are close to a possible deal, but a number of difficult issues still remain unsolved," she said. "We will not have a deal unless we resolve quickly the remaining issues. If Iran shows seriousness, we can and should reach an understanding of mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA within days."
State Dept says new Iran nuke deal (brokered by Russia) \u201cwithin days\u201d \u2014 \u201cWe can and should reach an understanding of mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA within days.\u201dpic.twitter.com/QBDFNSb37r— Adam Kredo (@Adam Kredo) 1646418532
In a nod to Russia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted Sunday that sanctions imposed by Washington on Moscow because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine will be totally disconnected from the Iran nuclear deal.
U.S. Dismissed by Iran Security Adviser: Admit Defeat, You Are Beaten
It's all over for the U.S. in the Middle East, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani said Sunday, cautioning the time has come for Washington to admit defeat against the might of the Islamic Republic.![]()
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