How Biden Should Deal With Iran
He should use the Trump sanctions as leverage to get more concessions from the Islamic Republic.
There will be new faces, there should be a new deal.
Photographer: Kevin Lamarque/AFP
After international inspectors reported that Iran has yet again significantly increased its stockpile of low-enriched uranium, President Donald Trump considered attacking the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities. He was reportedly dissuaded by his top aides, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice-President Mike Pence. Although both of them are generally thought to be hawkish on Iran, they seem to have calculated that an attack on nuclear installations could spark an uncontrollable conflict.
Incoming president Joe Biden will inherit an extremely difficult conundrum regarding Iran. For all its flaws, the 2015 nuclear agreement between the Islamic Republic and world powers had at least paused the Iranian charge towards a nuclear arsenal. Now Tehran is reconstituting its nuclear capability, despite the Trump administration’s hard-hitting economic sanctions.