President Biden’s envoy for nuclear talks with the rogue Iranian regime says the U.S. does not have a military option that could be used to stop the Iranian Nuclear Project.
At a Wednesday Senate committee hearing, State Department special ambassador Rob Malley said, “The military option cannot solve this problem.”
“The only viable option is diplomatic,” he claimed.
The US pointman on Iran warned Wednesday it was more likely than not that talks would fail to revive a nuclear deal as he vowed no let-up in pressure if Tehran clings to its demands
✍️ @shauntandonhttps://t.co/JQiX2Vc3qg— AFP News Agency (@AFP) May 25, 2022
Failure to Reach an Accord
This assertion helped explain Malley’s continued involvement in a lethargic discussion over restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.
That’s despite repeated U.S. warnings that the possibility would end if Iran failed to reach an accord.
Malley’s assessment, on the other hand, didn’t say anything about the administration’s “Plan B” if the talks fail, which he admitted is likely, given that both sides want to move on from the talks.
The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on what it described as a Russian-backed oil smuggling and money laundering network for Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, even as Washington tries to revive the Iran nuclear deal.
— Newsmax (@newsmax) May 25, 2022
Malley cited a variety of sanctions enforcement actions taken by the government.
Some of them include Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s declaration during the hearing of a clampdown on an “oil smuggling, fraud, and money laundering channel.”
This channel was led by a senior government official in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.
This was meant to assert the management has not allowed other dangers posed by the rule to decay during the nuclear discussions.
“We are not awaiting the outcome of the discussions before taking action on the problems you mentioned,” he added.
However, if Iran were a threshold state on the cusp of gaining a nuclear weapon, these issues would be worse, more challenging, and more intriguing.
This response did not satisfy Menendez, who in his opening remarks remembered Blinken’s January judgment that “if a deal is not struck within the next few weeks, Iran’s continued nuclear achievements will make it difficult to return to the JCPOA.”
Bad Faith
As Senator Menendez stated in his opening remarks, “Iran prolonged this process by increasing its demands and leveraging its power, telling the world the United States needs the JCPOA more than the Iranian government does.”
“After months of talks, this is the Iran we have to deal with. It’s not the Iran you thought would be pragmatic at the table of talks.”
Sen. James Risch (R-ID), the top Republican on the committee, agreed with Menendez’s criticisms about how long negotiations are taking.
“Discussions remain stuck. It is evident the Iranian government is engaging in bad faith, as it always has been,” he added in his opening remarks.
“While it continues to raise absurd demands to rejoin the nuclear agreement, it’s long past time for the administration to cease discussions.”
“The administration must execute a more comprehensive Iran strategy, rather than extending this period of uncertainty. Today, we’d want to learn about that comprehensive policy.”
During his talk with Risch, Malley confirmed the administration gave Iran permission to keep the talks past the deadline set by top U.S. officials.
