President Donald Trump would be prepared to engage in diplomacy with Iran to address a much broader range of US interests than was covered with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nominee for the position Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun said during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2019) President Donald Trump would be prepared to engage in diplomacy with Iran to address a much broader range of US interests than was covered with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nominee for the position Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun said during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday."I do believe the President would be prepared to undertake diplomacy with Iran. It requires Iran to address the full range of American interests, much broader than what was discussed in the JCPOA," Biegun told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action - better known as Iran nuclear agreement - was signed in 2015 by the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany, United Kingdom, European Union and Iran. JCPOA stipulates that Iran must maintain a peaceful nature of its nuclear program and downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for gradual sanctions relief.
In May of 2018, the United States withdrew from the nuclear agreement and re-imposed comprehensive economic sanctions on Iran. Almost a year later, Iran responded by announcing it would gradually abandon its own obligations under the JCPOA every 60 days unless the other signatories of the agreement did not save the accord by facilitating oil exports and trade with Iran.
Biegun said during the hearing that a lot of conduct that the US president has requested of the Iranians is not unlike that we would request of most normal countries around the world.
"The delta between Iran's conduct and those requirements are not because the requirements set the bar too high but because Iran's conduct a just too low," Biegun said.
Such diplomatic effort do not require pursuing a policy of regime change in Iran, Biegun added.
