Biden team warns Iran of fresh sanctions if nuclear talks fail
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Iran's government said that world powers can't expect it to stop expanding its nuclear work until an agreement is reached.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) - The US is preparing a fresh round of sanctions against Iran and will press other nations to comply with existing restrictions as talks on limiting the country's nuclear programme languish, the Biden administration warned Thursday (Dec 9).
President Joe Biden "has asked his team to be prepared in the event diplomacy fails," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.
If talks in Vienna to revive a 2015 agreement curbing Iran's programme fail, "we will have no choice but to take additional measures" to restrict Iran's revenue, she said.
Ms Psaki's comments came as the administration announced that a team of officials from the departments of Treasury and State would go to the United Arab Emirates to discuss compliance with sanctions that seek to limit Iranian income.
The UAE is purchasing Iranian oil and some of its banks have facilitated Iranian commerce in apparent violation of the sanctions.
Ms Andrea Gacki, the head of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, will lead the delegation. That group will "focus on engagements with the private sector and key UAE government officials," State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
The administration is also in talks with China, which has stepped up its purchases of Iranian oil, while refraining from immediate sanctions of Chinese vessels or entities.
Senior administration officials argue that diplomacy is the best way to approach China's decision to ignore the sanctions, rather than confrontation.
"They understand our position on this we're going to continue to have those discussions in a diplomatic context with them," Mr Price said. He said US delegations would travel to other partner countries in the coming weeks.
While the administration denies that it's let up on enforcement of Iran sanctions, the moves to discuss compliance follow what administration officials have lamented was a largely unsuccessful start to talks in Vienna between Western powers and the new Iranian government that took office in July.
On Saturday, a senior US official said that Iran hasn't shown seriousness in the Vienna talks, in what was then the most pessimistic American assessment of the negotiations to date.
Iran walked back many offers it had made in previous sessions and demanded sanctions relief beyond the terms of the original 2015 accord, the official told reporters.
Iran's government said in a Dec 5 statement that world powers can't expect it to stop expanding its nuclear work until an agreement is reached with Teheran on how US sanctions will be lifted.
The US argues that Iran will soon have made such strides in its nuclear programme that there will be no point in returning to the 2015 agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Former US President Donald Trump abandoned the deal in 2018; Mr Biden seeks to rejoin it. But the US is now preparing for a scenario where restoring the accord won't be possible.
"Based on the outcome of the last round of talks and the ongoing advancements in Iran's nuclear facilities, we are laying the groundwork for another path entirely," Ms Psaki said. "If diplomacy cannot get on track soon, and if Iran's nuclear programme continues to accelerate, then we will have no choice but to take additional measures to further restrict Iran's revenue-producing sectors."
