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US may return to Iran nuclear deal if Biden is elected president, says Russian senator

According to him, however, it doesn’t mean that the US will ease its pressure on Iran

MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/. If Democratic candidate Joe Biden wins the 2020 US presidential election, Washington may return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) for Iran’s nuclear program, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev told the Vmeste-RF TV channel on Thursday.

"I think that it’s possible. Let’s not forget that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was the brainchild of the Obama Administration that Trump rejected after taking office as president. I believe that if Biden wins, he will try to use it as an example to show that Trump’s foreign policy was flawed in every aspect and he will now have to correct the mistakes made earlier, so I would expect the US to take a softer position and even return to the JCPOA," Kosachev pointed out.

According to him, however, it doesn’t mean that the US will ease its pressure on Iran. "As far as the region is concerned, the United States is guided by the interests of its closest ally, Israel, and Israel’s relations with Iran haven’t changed. Israel will continue to press the US to pursue the toughest possible policy towards Iran," the senator emphasized.

Iran nuclear deal issue

In 2015, Iran and six major powers (five member states of the United Nations Security Council - Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and China - and Germany) agreed on the final Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which particularly stipulated the removal of sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program.

On May 8, 2018, US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. He said that old sanctions on Iran would be restored and new ones would be introduced in case Tehran attempted to pursue its nuclear ambitions. Tehran believes that other signatories, primarily EU countries, failed to fulfill their economic obligations under the deal, making it irrelevant. In this regard, Iran began to reduce its commitments under the agreement.

The UN arms embargo on Iran expired on October 18 after the UN Security Council had rejected a US draft resolution on extending it.

US presidential election

Nationwide, American citizens headed to the polls on November 3 to elect 435 representatives to the House, 35 senators out of 100 to the Senate, and the President and Vice President of the United States. The November race for the White House pits Democratic contender Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris against incumbent US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence of the Republican Party. In addition, voters decided on 13 US state and territorial governorships, and numerous other local elections were held. According to Fox News, Biden has secured 264 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to win the presidential election, while Trump has received 214 votes.