The Biden administration continues to maintain subtle contact with Iran over various issues and might be exploring a limited nuclear deal, Israel Hayom has learned after inquiring on the matter with the US State Department.
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A State Department spokesperson said the US has various means of communication with Iran on issues – such as on the release of imprisoned US citizens – but would not go into detail. The response comes amid Israeli concern that the administration was still pursuing a return to the 2015 pact. On Tuesday, in his first cabinet meeting since returning to power, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that was still a possibility "despite the conventional wisdom." Netanyahu's comments were in stark contrast to what Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, in their conversation that week, in which the former said the nuclear deal could not be salvaged.
In response to an Israel Hayom query, the State Department spokesperson said that the JCPOA has not been on the agenda for several months and that it was no longer the main focus of the administration, noting that since September – when the so-called HIjab protest broke out in Iran – the focus has been on standing by the Iranians over the fight for basic liberties and countering the deepening military cooperation between Iran and Russia over the war in Ukraine.
However, the State Department would not respond to a question on whether there are other backchannel talks with Iran on various other forms of deals that are not the full restoration of the JCPOA. Although the department noted that it has means to communicate with Iran on various issues, this could have been in reference to the humanitarian channels through Switzerland, which have been used to secure the release of Western detainees.
The spokesperson refused to say whether these means of communication have been used to pursue a possible alternative to the JCPOA. In the past, there have been reports that President Joe Biden was considering finalizing a limited version of the JCPOA that would see partial sanction relief in exchange for stopping uranium enrichment activities, as well as other formulas.
Israeli and US officials have recently noted that there are indications that the US has yet to fully shut the door on finalizing a full restoration of the deal. They further noted as evidence that the US has so far stopped short of demanding that the European countries that have remained in the deal invoke the snapback mechanism that would reinstate UN Security Council sanctions on Iran. Another indication is in the US public statements on the door for a deal still being open.
In response to a question, the State Department said that questions on the snapback should be directed at those European members of the deal. The Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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