Biden-Khamenei duel over the lifting of sanctions

Joe Biden warned that he would not take the first step towards Iran by lifting American sanctions, as Iranian leaders demanded on Sunday (February 7), in a distant duel which presages a resumption of dialogue very difficult. Asked by the CBS channel on the possibility of lifting the sanctions to convince Tehran to return to the negotiating table in order to save the Iran nuclear deal, the new president of the United States clearly replied: "No". And to the journalist who asked him if the Iranians should "first stop enriching uranium", he replied with a nod of the head, according to an excerpt from this interview, the entirety of which was to be broadcast on Sunday after- midday. The United States and the other great powers (China, Russia, Germany, France and the United Kingdom) concluded in 2015, after long and difficult negotiations, an agreement with Iran supposed to prevent it from acquiring the atomic bomb. But Donald Trump withdrew Washington from this agreement three years later, judging that it was insufficient on the nuclear level and also to counter the other “destabilizing activities” of the Islamic Republic. The ex-president reinstated and then tightened all the sanctions against Iran that had been lifted in exchange for its nuclear commitments, and Tehran in turn began to free itself from those restrictions. Joe Biden has vowed to return to the 2015 deal, on condition that Iran first resigns to its commitments. Since he entered the White House on January 20, the international community has been waiting to know how he intends to keep his promise, when the Iranians demand a prior lifting of all sanctions.