President Joe Biden finally called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Thursday, even if their conversation has been described as ‘polite’, if not ‘warm’. Already having infuriated Israel with its antics, the Biden administration, on Thursday, simultaneously flirted with Iran and chose to placate Tehran by rescinding a Trump-era decision to reimpose UN sanctions on the Shi’ite nation. Iran, instead of being grateful, has said that this is not enough.
Donald Trump had Iran by the throat, and his ‘maximum pressure policy’ was keeping the Iranians in check, and making their nuclear ambitions a near impossibility. However, with the coming of Biden to the White House, Iran has got much more than just a lifeline.
The tables have quite literally turned upside down when it comes to the US-Iran ties. Tehran is now behaving like a bully and is making no secret of the fact that its military nuclear program to develop warheads is alive and kicking.
In fact, the sanctions-ridden country is boasting of the same and using its nuclear program as a tool to blackmail Biden to toe its line on all issues that are under the sun. One must be wondering how Iran gained the upper hand in its rivalry with the US and its allies. As expected, Joe Biden remains the key to America being threatened by Iran.
Iran had set a February 21 deadline for the US and its allies to remove oil and banking sanctions imposed on it. While the most stringent of sanctions have not been rescinded by Biden yet, he has most definitely taken the first step to win-over Iran, and bring it to the negotiating table, by refusing to entertain a reimposition of UN sanctions against Tehran.
The Khamenei-regime of Iran, however, is not impressed. Therefore, on Sunday, it took to incredibly limiting the ability of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to conduct surveillance of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Read more: Biden begins removing sanctions from Iran thereby bringing the region to the brink of a war
Interestingly, while the IAEA has been allowed to conduct minute inspections for another three months, their right to observe live developments at Iran’s nuclear facilities has been unilaterally taken away.
Until Sunday, IAEA collected and analysed hundreds of thousands of images from such nuclear facilities, captured daily by its sophisticated surveillance cameras. Now, Iran has walked out of such an arrangement, effectively blinding the atomic agency and the world at large from observing what is really happening inside the facilities.
Fascinatingly, Biden is headed in the direction of lifting even the most stringent of sanctions imposed on Iran, if that suggests that Tehran is returning to the negotiating table. This, despite the President earlier saying that it was unlikely that any sanctions would be lifted.
In fact, the Biden administration was earlier de-hyphenating the issues of sanctions and a resuscitation of the disastrous 2015 nuclear deal. For the Democrats and Biden, an American return to the Obama-era deal is a prestige issue, which is why they are going to any and all extents to please Iran. However, Iran has understood that the US, under Biden, is more desperate to return to the nuclear deal than they are.
This is exactly what the Americans and the world at large should be incredibly wary of. Notice how Iran is dictating the terms, and how a meek and sheepish Biden administration is religiously following all of Tehran’s diktats. It is as if Biden has made Iran sit on a pedestal from where it can dominate the United States – which by the way, is the most powerful country on the face of the earth.
Such prostration by Biden in front of Iran will only make the American-foe nastier and greedier, which will, in turn, will push the entire Middle East to the brink of war.
Such is the desperation of the Democrats and their gang leader, that they are willing to take instructions from Iran only to breathe life into the Obama-era nuclear deal.
Consider this, if Iran wanted to re-enter the nuclear deal, whose terms it has been violating from the first day, it would not take decisions like stripping the IAEA of the bulk of its inspection rights. It would rather cooperate with the Biden administration and other American allies.
However, Iran’s priority is getting the sanctions imposed on it removed, and then negotiating a nuclear deal – whose terms the Shi’ite country will flout again, by the way.
Read more: Dumping Israel and Saudi Arabia, Biden is showering gifts on Iran like there is no tomorrow
Essentially, Iran has got the Biden administration cornered in a tight spot and going by Joe Biden’s first month in office, the 78-year-old is most likely to relent. While Iran dominates the conversation and exchange with the US, Biden is being forced to crawl in circles.
This would never have been the case had the President watched his words during the presidential campaign, and not vowed to make a grand return to the appalling nuclear deal. However, he did and gave away the Democrats’ desperation to Iran, which Tehran is now using to its advantage. So much for Biden knowing the ins and outs of global diplomacy!
Iran, not until very long ago, was in a position in which it was begging the US to return to the nuclear deal, without the sanctions imposed on it being removed first. This was because Trump’s maximum pressure policy was forcing Tehran’s knees deeper into the ground with each passing day.
However, Biden went around like a town crier, screaming his desire to return to the deal. Therefore, Iran is now making use of the same desperation to get the sanctions removed first. Ever since Biden assumed office last month, Iran has begun dictating terms to the US, which the latter under Biden is readily obliging to.
Till the time Trump had his thumb on Iran, the middle eastern country was behaving itself. As soon as Biden came to power and started toeing Barack Obama’s line, Tehran has begun bulling the United States again.
