US President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Tony Blinken, said Tuesday that the incoming administration will consult with Israel and Arab allies in the Middle East before it makes decisions about reentering the Iran nuclear agreement.
Biden “believes that if Iran comes back into compliance, we would too,” Blinken said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“But we would use that as a platform with our allies and partners, who would once again be on the same side with us, to seek a longer and stronger agreement,” Blinken said.
“It’s vitally important that we engage on the takeoff, not the landing, with our allies and partners in the region, to include Israel and to include the Gulf countries,” he said, adding that a new agreement could address Iran’s “destabilizing activities” in the region as well as its missiles.
Biden has said that returning to the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), would be a top priority for him in the Middle East. US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and imposed crushing sanctions that have wreaked havoc on the Iranian economy.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has warned against the US rejoining the agreement, speaking out in November and December against the move and urging Biden to continue Trump’s maximum pressure campaign of sanctions against Iran.
However, Israel’s ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, called on Biden to consult with Israel and the Gulf states before returning to the JCPOA.
“We are much better off if we can try and work through these issues together. You have my commitment that we intend and will do that and I look forward to the consultations that we’ll have,” Biden said.
