Iranian Crisis for Biden

The outgoing Trump administration, Israel and Saudi Arabia are seeking to torpedo any chance for the new White House to negotiate with Tehran.

Opposition to Joe Biden by supporters of Donald Trump has started even before Biden’s presidency begins. We should interpret the tour by outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in this light, a tour which led to a meeting in Saudi Arabia with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a secret summit widely publicized by Israeli media, although denied by the Riyadh government. A few days earlier, Trump had proposed that his military leadership consider an attack on Iran’s nuclear installations. And later, on Friday, the father of the Iranian atomic bomb project was assassinated in an attack some 90 kilometers from Tehran (approximately 56 miles), likely by the Israeli secret service.

All these steps are intended to derail Biden’s plans to resume negotiations with Iran. One of Trump’s most deplorable achievements was withdrawing the U.S. from the nuclear deal signed by Barack Obama in 2015, by which Tehran renounced the pursuit of nuclear weapons, submitted itself to controls by the International Atomic Energy Agency and began the process of rejoining the international community. This multilateral agreement advanced the policy against nuclear proliferation and was an example of the efficacy of diplomacy and sanctions, combined, in dealing with dangerous regimes.

The Iranian regime, outrageous in every respect, has opted for restraint, waiting for the new Democratic administration. It is in nobody’s interest to have either an Iranian regime isolated in the world and radicalized, or the brutal Saudi autocracy and its clandestine ally, the Israel of Netanyahu, who is worn out politically and under attack by his country’s legal system. Biden needs the support of the international community and the European Union in reversing course on the dangerous path of confrontation and restarting down another path, which, without naivety and with unwavering commitment to the security of the allies in the region, seeks through diplomacy to move Iran verifiably away from nuclear temptation.