Iran
US President Joe Biden in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC on March 8, 2022. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Dozens of national faith leaders from the United States on Thursday called on President Joe Biden to embark on a return to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, expressing concern about rumors of the talks verging on collapse.
"We are deeply concerned by recent news reports suggesting that negotiations between Iran and the United States on a return to the JCPOA are on the verge of collapse, heightening the risk of war and nuclear proliferation," read the statement.
The statement was led by the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCLN) and signed by an extensive coalition of faith leaders and faith-based organizations heads, including Christian and Jewish leaders.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was agreed upon between Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States in 2015, offering Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. Former US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 and imposed stiff economic sanctions on Tehran which has embarked upon the process of rolling back on its nuclear commitments since then.
Iran on Friday said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was set to arrive in Tehran later in the day for discussions on efforts to revive the nuclear deal.
A return to the deal would "be a significant victory for peace, diplomacy, and stability in the Middle East," the statement said, adding that a potential return to the landmark deal would curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Meanwhile, former US vice president Mike Pence on Thursday slammed the Biden administration's talks of reviving the accord, which was stalled during his tenure in power alongside former President Donald Trump as the previous administration took an aggressive stance against Iran.
"Now President Biden and his administration are threatening to unravel all the progress we made in marginalizing the tyrannical regime in Iran," Pence said at exiled Iranian opposition group Mojahedin e-Khalq (MEK) headquarters and asked the Biden administration to "immediately withdraw from all nuclear negotiations with Tehran," reported AFP.
The FCLN statement backed the revival of the JCPOA on the grounds that it would help end the humanitarian suffering in Iran exacerbated by crippling US sanctions, also placing Iran's nuclear program back in check and preventing possible military escalation.
Iran and world powers, including the US, have held talks for over a year aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, with Iran insisting that the US must lift its crippling sanctions, including those on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and provide a guarantee that future US administrations will not be able to withdraw from the deal.
Earlier this month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution censuring Iran over its failure to provide an explanation for the discovery of enriched uranium at three sites that it did not declare.
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