Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan, on Monday, said that the US and its allies were increasingly considering a ‘Plan B’ to prevent Iran’s nuclear program, should talks fail. Asserting that the Islamic Republic’s refusal to suits the 2015 JCPOA Act could alter the “whole picture”, the Jewish diplomat said that the signatories of the deal were talking more a few ‘Plan B’ than the much stalled diplomacy. Notably, American President Joe Biden had, in August, warned that he was able to consider “other options” should negotiations fail.
“The international community and Americans are beginning to ask us more a few plan B on Iran,” Erdan told Army Radio. “In the past, the estimate was that there was an 80 percent chance it [Iran] would return to the [2015 nuclear] deal, today that has dropped to around 30%. If Iran doesn’t return [to the deal], this changes the entire picture for the planet ,” he added.
Earlier this month, security officials from both Israel and America held ‘US-Israel Strategic Consultative Group’ talks on the course of action to be followed should Tehran refuse to revive the deal, Times of Israel reported sans revealing the small print of the discussions. As per the publication, while Israel pressed forward for an alternate course of options, the US touted the imposition of more sanctions on Iran. it’s worth mentioning that under Donald Trump, White House slapped multiple sanctions on the Islamic Republic, which subsequently cripped the currency also as its oil trade. Upon resuming office, Biden softened the stance by lifting some bans.
What is the JCPOA act?
The deal, signed in 2015 between Iran and other major world powers, including the US , France, Britain, China, Russia, and Germany (P5+1), saw Washington lifting economic sanctions against Tehran and reciprocally , the Islamic Republic agreed to bring down its uranium enrichment programme. However, Donald Trump withdrew the US from the pact in 2018, calling the structure of the deal “rotten”. The Islamic Republic then retaliated by ending its compliance with the deal. As of now, six talks are held in an effort to revive the controversial nuclear pact, but despite US President Joe Biden vowing to resume the pact at the earliest, negotiations still be during a limbo.
