WASHINGTON (Kayhan Intl.) -- A U.S. senator on Monday warned that Iran hawks in the United States are trying to persuade President Joe Biden into retaining his predecessor Donald Trump’s "maximum pressure” on the Islamic Republic.
"Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign proved a catastrophic failure, but the Iran hawks are unrepentant. Now they want to dictate Biden’s personnel choices, labeling those who support diplomacy as dangerous,” Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) tweeted.
"The hawks have been wrong, over and over. Why listen to them now?” he added.
Trump withdrew the U.S. out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran in 2018 and returned the sanctions that the deal had lifted.
"The hawks’ theory was if we pulled out of the nuclear deal and went back to sanctions and tough talk, Iran would come to the table…,” Murphy said.
"Trump tested the theory. Gave it 4 solid years. It didn’t work. At all. And Iran restarted the shuttered parts of their nuclear program. Unmitigated disaster.”
The senator said when Trump came into office, the JCPOA had aligned the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China versus Iran.
"Trump and the Iran hawks managed to shift the JCPOA balance to U.S. vs. Iran/Britain/France/Germany/Russia/China. A total disaster,” he added.
The anti-Iran forces, Murphy said, are now trying to "dictate Biden’s personnel choices, labeling those who support diplomacy as dangerous.”
They "want to tell Biden he can’t hire people to work on the Iran brief who support diplomacy,” he said.
Mossad head Yossi Cohen is set to meet with Biden in Washington next month to discuss the Iran nuclear deal and the Zionist regime’s expectations, Channel 12 news reported Saturday night.
Cohen, a major ally of Zionist PM Benjamin Netanyahu, will be the first senior official of the occupying regime of Israel to meet with Biden who was sworn in on January 20.
He is expected to lay out information on the developments of Iran’s nuclear program that the Zionist regime has allegedly gathered and demand fundamental amendments to the deal signed between Iran and world powers in 2015, the Times of Israel reported.
The occupying regime’s expectations include stricter commitments from Iran in any "new version” of Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action (JCPOA), Channel 12 reported.
According to Channel 12, Cohen will present the Biden administration with a list of components that the Zionist regime believes must be included in any renegotiated deal.
Those would include Iran halting the enrichment of uranium and production of advanced centrifuges and an end to its support of resistance groups, especially Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the report said.
Iran has categorically ruled out any renegotiation of the nuclear agreement, saying it would consider any talks with the U.S. after the lifting of draconian sanctions on the country.
On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Washington would seek to lengthen and strengthen the nuclear constraints on Iran "through diplomacy”, and that the issue will be part of Biden’s early talks with foreign counterparts and allies.
Cohen, who has been Mossad chief for the past five years, is also expected to meet the new director of the CIA, William Burns, who played a leading role in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, the Israeli reports said.
On January 11, Cohen met with former hawkish U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo in Washington ahead of an Israeli attack in Syria, said to be aided by U.S. intelligence, the Times of Israel said.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Biden also agreed Sunday to coordinate on the Iran nuclear deal, the Elysee palace said.
The two leaders spoke for the first time since Biden’s inauguration in a telephone call Sunday, discussing "their willingness to act together … in particular on the Iranian nuclear issue,” the French presidency said.
The Islamic Republic has warned that it would not accept changes to the terms of the 2015 pact.
Writing in Foreign Affairs on Friday, Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said that Iran’s "return to the table will be jeopardized if Washington or its EU allies demand new terms for a deal that was already carefully constructed through years of negotiations.”
According to Channel 12, Cohen will present the Biden administration with a list of components that the Zionist regime believes must be included in any renegotiated deal.
Those would include Iran halting the enrichment of uranium and production of advanced centrifuges and an end to its support of resistance groups, especially Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the report said.
Iran has categorically ruled out any renegotiation of the nuclear agreement, saying it would consider any talks with the U.S. after the lifting of draconian sanctions on the country.
On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Washington would seek to lengthen and strengthen the nuclear constraints on Iran "through diplomacy”, and that the issue will be part of Biden’s early talks with foreign counterparts and allies.
Cohen, who has been Mossad chief for the past five years, is also expected to meet the new director of the CIA, William Burns, who played a leading role in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, the Israeli reports said.
On January 11, Cohen met with former hawkish U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo in Washington ahead of an Israeli attack in Syria, said to be aided by U.S. intelligence, the Times of Israel said.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Biden also agreed Sunday to coordinate on the Iran nuclear deal, the Elysee palace said.
The two leaders spoke for the first time since Biden’s inauguration in a telephone call Sunday, discussing "their willingness to act together … in particular on the Iranian nuclear issue,” the French presidency said.
The Islamic Republic has warned that it would not accept changes to the terms of the 2015 pact.
Writing in Foreign Affairs on Friday, Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said that Iran’s "return to the table will be jeopardized if Washington or its EU allies demand new terms for a deal that was already carefully constructed through years of negotiations.”
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