Iran's election unsettles Biden's hope for a nuclear deal
Source: AP
By MATTHEW LEE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Biden administration officials are insisting that the election of a hard-liner as Iran’s president won’t affect prospects for reviving the faltering 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran. But there are already signs that their goal of locking in a deal just got tougher.
Optimism that a deal was imminent faded as the latest talks ended Sunday without tangible indications of significant progress. And on Monday, in his first public comments since the vote, incoming Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi rejected a key Biden goal of expanding on the nuclear deal if negotiators are able to salvage the old one.
At the same time, Raisi is likely to raise Iran’s demands for sanctions relief in return for Iranian compliance with the deal, as he himself is already subject to U.S. human rights penalties.
“I don’t envy the Biden team,” said Karim Sadjapour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has advised multiple U.S. administrations on Iran. “I think the administration now has a heightened sense of urgency to revise the deal before Raisi and a new hard-line team is inaugurated.”
In this June 21, 2021, photo, Iran's new President-elect Ebrahim Raisi waves at the conclusion of his news conference in Tehran, Iran. Biden administration officials are insisting that the election of a hard-liner as Iran’s president won’t affect prospects for reviving the faltering 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran. But there are already signs that their goal of locking in a deal just got harder. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-joe-biden-middle-east-iran-government-and-politics-8d8f70767a80decd8a12eb0c54241ccf
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