High Hopes for JCPOA Revival

It is good news for the chances of reviving the Iran nuclear deal that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani recently announced that if the United States returns to the deal, Iran will also return, with no preconditions, the Slate online magazine wrote in a commentary. 
US President-elect Joe Biden has consistently said the US would once again abide by the terms of the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018, if Iran did the same. 
Many have feared that Trump’s withdrawal has made Iranian officials so distrustful of American intentions that they would not reenter the deal—or that, at minimum, they would do so only if the US compensated them for revenue lost since Trump reimposed economic sanctions. That would be a political nonstarter for Biden.
However, Rouhani said compensation would be something to be worked out over a period of years, not a prerequisite to resuming the accord, according to his official website President.ir. 
Last month, after a prominent Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated, the Iranian Parliament unanimously expressed a desire to withdraw from the Additional Protocol of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which allows international inspectors to verify whether signatories are complying with the treaty’s ban on developing nuclear weapons. That move suggested that the country’s conservatives, who are in the majority in the legislature and never liked the nuclear deal, were growing in power ahead of presidential election in June.
Rouhani’s statement—which he could not have made without the approval of Iran’s top officials—indicates that Tehran is willing to give America’s incoming new president another chance.
The Iranians’ motive probably stems, in good part, from economic woes. Trump’s sanctions have left the country in dire straits. The nuclear deal lifted sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program. 
Until recently, international inspectors attested several times that Iran was abiding by its side of the bargain. A year after Trump reimposed sanctions, Iran started breaking out of some parts of the deal, exceeding its limits on the enrichment of uranium. 
Some US critics of the deal have said Biden should exploit Iran’s current economic problems by pushing for a more restrictive deal. Some of the accord’s clauses are scheduled to expire in just four years. And it puts no limits on Iran’s support for regional allies or development of ballistic missiles.

Failed Policy  

The Slate article commented that these could be valid points, but the most critical clauses do not expire until 2030 or later, and when he signed the deal, former US president Barack Obama—along with the negotiators from Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany—calculated that it was more important to focus on stopping Iran’s nuclear program, which the westerners believed was nearing the capability to make a nuclear bomb, an objective that Tehran says has never and will never pursue. 
Opponents of Trump’s policy argue that Iran is even closer to that capability now—potent evidence that Trump’s strategy of “maximum pressure” has failed miserably. Therefore, Biden—who, as vice president, was part of Obama’s team that produced the deal—can be expected to push for bringing it back to life, while Iran is on the same page.
However, Biden will also be pressured—and may feel the need—to move for a follow-on deal, which could push back some expiration dates and place some sorts of limits on Iran’s missile program and regional activities, subjects that Tehran says are no-go areas.
When Trump withdrew from the deal, he did so against the advice of all his top aides at the time as well as leaders in Europe and even several Israeli military and intelligence officials, though not Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who encouraged the pullout. 
Trump had long denounced the deal as “the worst deal ever”, without ever citing any evidence that was accurate. His main motive, it seems, was to demolish the diplomatic achievement of his predecessor and top nemesis, Obama.
With Biden’s imminent arrival in the White House, Iranian officials are taking advantage of the situation. When it comes to the nuclear deal, the US and Iran—along with much of the rest of the world—have shared interests. It is time to act on that fact, the article concluded.