Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to US State Department officials during the first visit by US President Joe Biden in Washington, DC, February 4, 2021.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold a virtual meeting with America’s main European allies on Friday night to discuss the strategy in relation to Iran, Western diplomats and senior US officials told NBC News.
Blinken will discuss Iran with the chancellors of Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Diplomats will also consult on the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and the situation in Myanmar. The last time the Secretary of State held a summons in this format was in 2018, when the U.S. was withdrawing from the nuclear deal with Iran, according to NBC.
The meeting will take place after President Joe Biden’s National Security Council meets on Friday afternoon to discuss the government’s approach to Iran. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the NSC meeting is part of of an ongoing policy review and that no announcements will be made.
The events are the strongest indication of Biden’s intention to turn the page on former President Donald Trump’s autonomous approach to Iran and diplomacy in general and return the United States to multilateral foreign policy.
The White House wants to rejoin the nuclear deal with Iran, but insists that Iran return to full compliance first. The Biden government has promised to consult closely with US allies in its approach to Iran.
Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal because it did not restrict Iran’s ballistic missile program or deal with Tehran’s support for militant groups.
Iran reversed its commitments under the agreement while the Trump administration pursued a policy of “maximum pressure”, imposing paralyzing economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Monday proposed that Washington and Tehran return to the agreement at the same time, with diplomatic support from the European Union.
However, the Biden government rejected this proposal.
“The proposition on the table as President Biden said is that if Iran resumes full compliance with the JCPOA, we will be prepared for that,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Tuesday.
The United States has not yet discussed Iran with the nuclear deal, Price said.
The Joint Global Action Plan is the official name of the deal negotiated under former President Barack Obama that aims to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom also participated in the agreement.
Last week, Biden appointed Robert Malley as a US envoy to Iran. Malley helped create the original 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. The move is seen as a diplomatic effort to move forward in the Middle East.
In his first foreign policy speech, Biden on Thursday pledged to repair alliances through diplomacy and restore Washington’s leadership position on the global stage.
Although he did not address the nuclear deal with Iran, he announced that the United States would no longer support Saudi Arabia’s offensive operations in Yemen. The Saudis are fighting an armed movement known as Houthis. Washington and Riyadh accuse Iran of providing support to the Houthis.
Biden said the United States will continue to help Saudi Arabia defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, a statement aimed at reassuring Riyadh and alerting Iran. The Saudis accused Iran of orchestrating an attack on its 2019 oil facilities, the which forced Riyadh to cut its oil production in half briefly.
– Amanda Macias from CNBC contributed to this article.