In an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, Jared Kushner, former US president Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former senior White House advisor, praised Biden for expressing interest in reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
"While many were troubled by the Biden team’s opening offer to work with Europe and rejoin the Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, I saw it as a smart diplomatic move," Kushner wrote, expressing a different stance from Trump, who repeatedly criticized the deal.
"The Biden administration called Iran’s bluff. It revealed to the Europeans that the JCPOA is dead and only a new framework can bring stability for the future," he added.
In his opinion piece, Kushner also praised Trump’s policies for providing the groundwork for an enhanced relationship between the US and Iran.
"Mr. Trump has said that Iran has never won a war but never lost a negotiation. This negotiation is high-stakes and, thanks to his policies, America holds a strong hand," he wrote. "Iran is feigning strength, but its economic situation is dire and it has no ability to sustain conflict or survive indefinitely under current sanctions."
Progressive groups have called on Biden to quickly adopt a “new course of action” on Iran.
“The longer the elements of 'maximum pressure' remain in effect, the more it will continue to embolden hardliners and make US-Iran diplomacy more difficult," 32 progressive groups wrote in a letter to the White House earlier this month. "The recent escalation in military activity between the United States and reported Iranian proxies in Syria and Iraq only shows how urgently needed a new course of action is.
However, Biden has stated that the US will only return to the negotiating table if Iran commits to reducing its nuclear enrichment levels to pre-deal levels. However, progressive groups have expressed concern that the United States’ position may stymie discussions with Iran.
"We support your policy of ‘compliance for compliance,’ but the fact of the matter is that the United States was the first to violate the deal. It is therefore reasonable to expect the United States to at the very least take concurrent steps with Iran to rejoin it,” the groups argued.
During the last few days of the Trump administration in January, Iranian state television revealed that the country is planning to enrich uranium up to 20 percent at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant. Under the nuclear deal, Iran cannot enrich uranium beyond a 3.67 percent limit.
The former US president, Donald Trump, administration withdrew Washington from the JCPOA nuclear deal on May 8, 2018. Following its removal from the deal, the Trump administration increased pressure on Tehran, reinstating previous sanctions and imposing tougher new ones. In response, Tehran started to gradually abandon its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal.
