US President Joe Biden promised to move quickly to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. But three years after former president Donald Trump pulled out of the deal, that pledge is proving to be easier said than done.

Tehran wants all of its demands met before returning to compliance, while the Biden administration is under pressure at home to not give in too easily on sanctions.

“The US now has incredible leverage over Iran,” former Trump national security advisor John Bolton said. “If Biden gives it away, he will virtually guarantee that the sanctions will collapse, and ultimately Iran will get nuclear weapons and the ballistic missiles to deliver them both on Europe and on the United States.”

The Biden administration argues that withdrawing from the deal and imposing more sanctions only pushed Iran to develop its nuclear programme, but sees a return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as a possible stepping stone for what it calls a stronger deal.

But the administration is ‘in a difficult position’, Emma Soubrier, a visiting scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute, told FRANCE 24.

“The Biden administration is in a difficult position, having to prove it’s not the Trump administration by wanting to return to the nuclear deal with Iran, and also wanting to show that the Biden administration better understands the balance of power and the different interests in the region,” Soubrier said.

Source: France 24