- While Biden administration is keen to revive the stalled JCPOA talks with Iran, Iran has reciprocated with little willingness.
- By bestowing Iran with more relaxations, Joe Biden is only strengthening Iran’s security apparatus.
- The Biden administration has supported the ongoing peace talks between two rivals at official level, but it is abundantly clear that the truce between Saudi Arabia and Iran will seriously hamper foreign interventions in the region.
What happens when two enemies are trudging forward striking a truce, and suddenly one of the two enemies is rendered powerful in greater proportions? Well, the peace process will end in stillbirth as the powerful enemy would strive to decimate his rival with his renewed might.
So, as Iran and Saudi Arabia (the two staunchest rivals of the Middle East) look forward to mend their ties, the US is taking steps to strengthen Iran’s ballistic missile program. Given Iran’s pugnacious foreign policy towards Arabs and Israel, the US’s move could very well embolden the Shi’ite nation.
Biden’s move to boost Iranian Ballistic Missile program
In a shocking move on Friday, the Biden administration removed two Iranian companies linked to the nation’s ballistic missile program from the sanctions blacklist. Tehran-based Mammut Industrial Group and its subsidiary Mammut Diesel Company were given relaxations, which saw their businesses collapsed under the previous Donald Trump administration.
While Biden administration is keen to revive the stalled JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) talks with Iran, Iran has reciprocated with little willingness. Iran is insisting the US to remove “illegal” sanctions against Tehran to revive the talks; however, the Ebrahim Raisi regime has already said it is not the appropriate time to rejoin the JCPOA.
By bestowing Iran with more relaxations, Joe Biden is only strengthening Iran’s security apparatus. As per a recent revelation by Iran’s atomic chief, Iran has already enriched more than 120 kilograms of 20-percent enriched uranium. Joe Biden’s lax approach towards Iranian belligerence has already given wings to Iranian nuclear program, and now, he is brazenly strengthening Iran’s dubious ballistic missile program, which is a highly contentious issue for the Arabs.
Iran-Saudi Arabia peace talks could face an emboldened Iran
This comes as Iran and Saudi Arabia are fast turning towards burying the hatchet. The two countries have already held bilateral discussions thrice in recent months. In recent months, Iran has shown encouraging signs of improving ties with Saudi Arabia. Last month, an Iranian official had stated that “serious progress has been made on the subject of security in the Gulf.”
Read More: In a twist, Iran may be stepping into an era of peace with Saudi Arabia and Israel
The Biden administration has supported the ongoing peace talks between two rivals at official level, but it is abundantly clear that the truce between Saudi Arabia and Iran will seriously hamper foreign interventions in the region.
Peace in the Middle East—A threat to the Military-Industrial Complex
Iran and Saudi Arabia are West Asia’s two staunch rivals. The ongoing tensions between these two states keep the whole region on a constant boil. The turbulence in the region simply helps the infamous Military-Industrial Complex to make the maximum out of these conflicts. Unsurprisingly, the USA’s share of total arms sales from the Top 100 arms companies in the world stands at 59 percent.
These conflicts help the USA’s lawmakers and defence contractors to justify enormous amounts of taxpayers’ money being spent on weapons contracts. This simply implies that if the two staunchest rivals in the Western Asian region manage to normalize their relations with each other, the Military-Industrial Complex would be the one to suffer the most.
The controversy surrounding President Joe Biden’s nomination of retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin to be the secretary of Defense further cemented the fact that Biden’s 4-year tenure is going to bear enormous fruits for the Military-Industrial Complex.
After his retirement in 2016, Austin served on the boards of Raytheon Co., a major defence contractor, and steel producer Nucor Corp.: the two beneficiaries of military expenditures. Hence, one would never expect Austin to endorse anything that puts Military-Industrial Complex’s interests at risk.
The fact that Trump’s era ended up without embroiling the USA in new wars dealt a huge blow to the money-making mechanism deployed by the Military-Industrial Complex. Before Trump, it was Barack Obama who lavished taxpayers’ dollars to the defence contractors in abundance.
He launched airstrikes or military raids in at least seven countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. Now, with Biden at the helm of the affairs, the infamous alliance of defence and military establishment has again sprung into action. Hence, the Biden administration is striving to embolden Iran against the Arabs with ambitions of derailing the attempts of a peaceful end to the decades-long conflict.