In a sign of the urgency that President Biden feels towards Iran, the White House is calling a meeting of the National Security Council’s board of directors on Friday focusing on the country’s nuclear program, people familiar with the matter said. Axios.
Why it matters: The Biden government is still refining its strategy on how to revive the 2015 agreement that President Trump dropped out of in 2018, but wants to work with allies to slow Iran’s efforts to enrich uranium and prevent an arms race in the Middle East.
- The meetings of the board of directors – held in the Situation Room and attended by the Secretaries of Defense and State and other key national security actors – aim to discuss policy at the highest level before making recommendations to the president.
- They are preceded by a meeting of deputies from all national security bodies. On Wednesday, Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer led one of these sessions focused on the Middle East.
- One of the main action items on Friday is whether we should press for a return to the nuclear deal before the June presidential election in Iran or wait until after, said a source familiar with the matter.
- The State and Defense departments declined to comment. An NSC spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Driving the news: Secretary of State Tony Blinken also has a virtual meeting on Friday with the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Germany and France, with Iran also on that agenda.
- During a press conference at the White House on Thursday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan hinted that the government is putting pressure on Iran.
- “We are actively engaged” with European partners, he said. “Consultations will produce a unified front when it comes to our strategy.”
The intrigue: During a visit to the State Department on Thursday, the president did not mention his efforts to revive the nuclear deal, a remarkable achievement by the then Secretary of State for the Obama administration, John Kerry. Most Republicans in Congress criticized him heavily, and Trump later got rid of him.
- Biden announced that the United States would no longer support Saudi Arabia in its military offensive against Iran-backed Houthis in the Yemeni civil war.
- However, he promised to continue to provide the Saudis with defensive systems, citing “threats from forces provided by Iran in several countries”.
The big picture: After withdrawing from the deal in 2018, Trump imposed sanctions on Iran. His “maximum pressure” campaign, led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, targeted oil exports and the central bank, with the aim of forcing Tehran back at the negotiating table.
- However, Trump has failed to persuade other members of the original agreement, including China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and Germany, to reinstate sanctions.
- The Iranians also crouched down and waited for him.
- Last month, Iran announced that it had raised its uranium enrichment levels to 20%, well above the deal’s limit of 5% – a clear violation of the deal.
Blinken asked his newly appointed Iranian envoy, Rob Malley, to form a negotiating team composed of diplomats and experts with a variety of views on the way forward with Iran, Barak reported on Wednesday.
- Blinken even asked Malley to bring “more hawkish” people to Iran, according to a source close to the government.
Between the lines: Blinken suggested that Iran would first need to comply with the agreement before the United States lifted any sanctions.
- “We are a long way from that point,” said the secretary last week.