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Iran
US President Joe Biden pictured in Washington, DC on March 5, 2021. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — US President Joe Biden on Friday extended a national emergency and comprehensive sanctions against Iran for another year as Tehran continues to pose a “threat” to the United States.
In a note to Congress, Biden said that he would continue a decades’ old policy introduced by Bill Clinton. “I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency with respect to Iran that was declared on March 15, 1995, is to continue in effect beyond March 15, 2021.”
The 1995 order bars US investment in Iran’s energy sector and authorizes the Treasury to impose sanctions.
In extending the measure, Biden stated that Iran poses “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
“For these reasons, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 12957 with respect to Iran and to maintain in force comprehensive sanctions against Iran to respond to this threat.”
The extension of the national emergency and sanctions comes at a sensitive time and is bound to antagonize Tehran, hardliners in particular. The had been growing diplomatic chatter about a possible return of the United States to the dysfunctional 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions (JCPOA), since the new administration came into office in January.
There has been no reaction to the news of Biden’s order, but Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter on Friday that, as Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, he will outline “constructive concrete plan of action- through proper diplomatic channels.”
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the ultimate decision maker in Iran, maintains that Washington must lift its crippling sanctions before Tehran would be ready to sit down with Biden’s administration as part of the JCPOA.
The nuclear pact was signed in 2015 following years of intense negotiations and led to Washington, under former President Barak Obama, easing some sanctions. The tide was reversed when Donald Trump came to power. He not only stopped easing the sanctions, but re-imposed them and intensified the measures as part of a maximum pressure policy on Iran.
In a note to Congress, Biden said that he would continue a decades’ old policy introduced by Bill Clinton. “I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency with respect to Iran that was declared on March 15, 1995, is to continue in effect beyond March 15, 2021.”
The 1995 order bars US investment in Iran’s energy sector and authorizes the Treasury to impose sanctions.
In extending the measure, Biden stated that Iran poses “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
“For these reasons, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 12957 with respect to Iran and to maintain in force comprehensive sanctions against Iran to respond to this threat.”
The extension of the national emergency and sanctions comes at a sensitive time and is bound to antagonize Tehran, hardliners in particular. The had been growing diplomatic chatter about a possible return of the United States to the dysfunctional 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions (JCPOA), since the new administration came into office in January.
There has been no reaction to the news of Biden’s order, but Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter on Friday that, as Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, he will outline “constructive concrete plan of action- through proper diplomatic channels.”
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the ultimate decision maker in Iran, maintains that Washington must lift its crippling sanctions before Tehran would be ready to sit down with Biden’s administration as part of the JCPOA.
The nuclear pact was signed in 2015 following years of intense negotiations and led to Washington, under former President Barak Obama, easing some sanctions. The tide was reversed when Donald Trump came to power. He not only stopped easing the sanctions, but re-imposed them and intensified the measures as part of a maximum pressure policy on Iran.
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