Iran and the US have not had diplomatic relations for several decades. Will that change soon? A recent statement by US President Biden has now been interpreted by Iran as a threat.
The Iranian Security Council has interpreted and condemned the latest statement by US President Joe Biden about Iran as an “illegal threat”.
“Biden used the term” other options “and this is clearly an illegal threat against another country,” tweeted Security Secretary Ali Shamchani on Saturday. Thus, Iran will soon consider “other options” as a legitimate countermeasure against the USA.
The background to the reaction from Tehran was Biden’s testimony in a meeting on Friday with the new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. According to Biden, the US would initially rely on diplomacy in relations with Iran. “But if diplomacy fails, we are ready to turn to other options,” added the US president.
The US and Iran have not had diplomatic relations with each other for more than 40 years. After Hassan Ruhani was elected in 2013, he and his then counterpart Barack Obama tried to find a compromise, at least in the dispute over the Iranian nuclear program. That was achieved in Vienna in 2015, but Obama’s successor Donald Trump stepped out of the deal in 2018. In addition, Trump imposed draconian sanctions on the country, which plunged the oil-rich Iran into the worst economic crisis in its history. Since 2019, Iran has no longer adhered to its technical obligations in the Vienna nuclear agreement.
Since April 2021, the other contracting parties – China, Germany, France, Great Britain and Russia – have been trying to get the two sides to return to the deal. Iran is basically ready to do so, but wants all US sanctions to be lifted in advance. Washington and the three European contracting parties, for their part, are demanding concessions from Iran regarding its Middle East policy and its missile program.
The negotiations were interrupted in mid-June because of the presidential election and the change of political power in Iran. In September they are to be continued with the new Iranian nuclear team. It is still unclear who will lead this team. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been responsible for the nuclear talks for the past eight years, but before that the Security Council. President Ebrahim Raisi will choose between the two in the coming days.
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