May 25, 2023 | The Dispatch
Iran Needs an Ultimatum, Not a New Deal
The West still does not have a clear understanding of the regime’s nuclear activities.
May 25, 2023 | The Dispatch
Iran Needs an Ultimatum, Not a New Deal
The West still does not have a clear understanding of the regime’s nuclear activities.
Five years ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a shocking revelation to the world: Iran had cheated from the start on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, concealing an atomic weapons archive from Western negotiators and U.N. inspectors. Not long after, the Trump administration withdrew from the deal—formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—and thus fulfilled one of his major campaign promises.
President Joe Biden vowed to reenter the nuclear deal if he were elected, and his administration has participated in several rounds of negotiations, all of which failed. Now, European powers are pressuring Biden once again to jump back into that deal—or an even weaker one—while still not having a full picture of Iran’s clandestine activities.
Richard Goldberg is a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Andrea Stricker is the Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program Deputy Director and a Research Fellow. Follow Rich and Andrea on Twitter @rich_goldberg and @StrickerNonpro. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.