Wendy Sherman, former U.S. Undersecretary for Political Affairs who led the U.S. negotiating team that reached the 2015 accord between Tehran and six world powers, said it was impossible to convince Tehran to “dismantle its nuclear programme and give up their enrichment even though that would be ideal”.
“So that means they will come to an impasse, and that we will face the potential for war, which I don’t think, quite frankly, President Donald Trump looks forward to because he has campaigned as a peace president,” she added.
Contradictory statements by US officials, including their demand for “zero enrichment” by Iran, has left the fate of negotiations in limbo.
Iran has held four rounds of indirect talks with the US on a replacement for the 2015 deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which have been generally described as positive by the two sides.
In 2018, Trump walked out of the landmark agreement between Iran and several other countries that gave it sanctions relief in return for confidence-building restrictions on its nuclear activities.
Iran now wants guarantees that the US will remove all the sanctions and won’t again unilaterally derail the new deal.
