Although president-elect Joe Biden's foreign policy team has publicly said that the new administration would seek to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal and make it "longer and better," according to new information obtained by Israel Hayom, several advisers to the future president have been pushing for a new approach that favors embracing some of President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" policy components.
Israel Hayom has learned that among some of Biden's advisers, there is a belief that adopting a conciliatory tone toward Iran would be counterproductive.
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According to some officials in Biden's orbit, it would be a mistake to squander the gains of the outgoing administration by turning back the clock in one fell swoop and returning to the Iran deal along the terms set by the official document, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action from 2015.
Instead, they call for using the tough US sanctions that have been imposed over the past several years as leverage against Iran so that it agrees to amend the nuclear deal, essentially adopting the strategy pursued by Trump, who has hoped the crippling sanctions would convince Iran to agree to add restrictions on its missile program and other aspects that were all but left out of the JCPOA, such as its regional aggression.
The conventional wisdom is that Biden will eventually opt to strike a balance between the two approaches: He would stay out of the deal in the immediate future but would also extend various good-will gestures that could entice Tehran to change the deal.
Some in the transition team have also been critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his public warning that the US should not re-enter the deal. According to a person close to the transition team, the "new administration would like to engage in dialogue with Israel on the necessary changes that need to be introduced in the deal, but this discussion has to be held behind closed doors." The sources said that "we have avoided statements on Israeli positions, wheres as the prime minister and his ambassador in Washington have [expressed comments on US views].
The source said that "Biden is not Barack Obama, and it is no coincidence that the senior appointments in his foreign policy team are not Obama's people."
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