ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The revival of the 2015 nuclear deal is essential to the stability of the Middle East and the Kurdistan Region as it could keep Iran-backed militias at bay, a US foreign policy expert told Rudaw on Thursday amid a worrying spike in rocket and drone attacks threatening the Region's security.
"Without this nuclear agreement being revived, we will see more instability and more attacks by Iran and Iran-backed groups," Barbara Slavin, the director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council think tank told Rudaw's Diyar Kurda and explained that the targeting of the Kurdistan Region is centered on its "very good relations" with the US.
The nuclear talks in Vienna aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal took a pause in March after Russia demanded guarantees that the sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine would not affect a nuclear deal with Iran. Talks resumed shortly after but have been derailing over Iranian demands for the removal of all US sanctions.
Slavin blamed Joe Biden’s administration for being "slow" to return to the nuclear talks and noted a loss of interest from all sides to reach an agreement as a key factor hindering the deal from progressing quickly.
Former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 and imposed stiff economic sanctions on Tehran, which has since embarked on the process of rolling back its nuclear commitments since then.
Another counterincentive affecting the deal is last year's formation of Iran's new government, Slavin suggests, calling the hardline Ebrahim Raisi-led government anti-Western.
"This Iran seems to see its future to the east and the north, and not to the west," she said as she mentioned a recent Raisi visit to Moscow where he met Russian President Vladimir Putin where they discussed problems with implementing the nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on Iran’s nuclear program.
Slavin noted that the revival of the talks is crucial for regional stability as well as the security of the Kurdistan Region which has recently been at the receiving ends of a barrage of rocket and drone attacks, largely attributed to Iran-backed groups seeking to destabilize and weaken the Region's institutions, primarily its oil and gas fields.
Three rockets struck the Khor Mor gas field in Sulaimani's Chamchamal district in a matter of four days, causing the operator, UAE-based Dana Gas, to temporarily halt work on an expansion project at the field.
To revive the landmark nuclear accord, Iran has insisted in talks with world powers that the US must lift its crippling sanctions, including those on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and provide a guarantee that future US administrations will not be able to withdraw from the deal.
Iran and the US engaged in two-days-long indirect talks that started on Tuesday in Doha aimed at reviving the deal. The US said the talks made “no progress.”
