DAVOS (Realist English). US foreign policy has been “taken hostage” by Israel. This was stated on May 26 by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahiyan, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian accused the Biden administration of being “indecisive” in talks to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, adding that Iran was still committed to reaching an agreement.
According to Abdollahiyan, the White House should “show good will” by excluding the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the list of terrorist organizations, and the nuclear deal should promote Tehran’s economic and trade activities with the rest of the world. As for the negotiations aimed at reducing tensions in relations with Saudi Arabia, the Minister said that both sides had made small but significant progress and agreed to hold talks at the level of foreign ministers in the near future.
Abdollahiyan explained the pause in the negotiations by the “lack of economic guarantees” from the United States, saying that the Biden administration does not want to abandon Donald Trump‘s policy regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, May 25, Rob Malley, the top US envoy on Iran, downplayed the chances of striking a deal and laid the blame on “excessive Iranian demands”. “If Iran maintains demands that go beyond the scope of the [JCPOA], we will continue to reject them, and there will be no deal,” he said.
In his testimony, Malley said the issue of the IRGC had been removed from the talks, with the US ruling out delisting the group.
Former President Donald Trump nixed the multilateral pact, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May 2018, and started piling sanctions on the Iranian economy as part of his “maximum pressure” campaign.
After some time, Tehran refused to fulfill the terms of the international agreement and resumed enrichment of uranium.
