While the Biden administration claims to be conducting the Vienna talks in good faith and seriously, it extended the state of national emergency with Iran last night.
According to Pak Sahafat News agency, quoting the White House website, US President Joe Biden last night extended the state of national emergency towards Iran in a statement.
The statement said: The national state of emergency against Iran, declared on March 15, 1995, will remain in place until March 15, 2022.
The statement claimed: The actions and policies of the Iranian government continue to pose a tremendous threat to US national security, foreign policy, and the economy.
The US President’s statement added: For these reasons, I have decided that it is necessary to maintain the state of national emergency declared in Executive Order 12957 against Iran and to maintain comprehensive sanctions against Iran in response to this threat.
The executive order of the national emergency on Iran is the basis of most of the harsh US sanctions against Iran and gives the US President the power to seize Iranian property and assets. According to White House officials, some executive orders issued following the national emergency were repealed at the same time as the implementation of the UN Security Council, but US presidents extend the executive order in its entirety each year.
Read more: American newspaper: Instead of following Trump’s policy, Biden should seek peace with Iran: https://www.paksahafat.com/en/?p=3898
The move by the US president coincides with the eighth round of Vienna talks. Negotiations to revive the nuclear deal, which took place in 2015, eased tensions in Tehran-Washington relations with the lifting of sanctions on Iran in exchange for limiting its nuclear program, but the former US administration, withdrew in 2018 on the grounds that the deal was flawed.
The Biden administration, which has said since its inception in 2021 that a return to a nuclear deal is a foreign policy priority, has repeatedly tried to blame Iran for the current state of the nuclear deal by throwing balls at Iran. He claimed that he had attended the talks in good faith and seriously in order to reach a final agreement in Vienna as soon as possible.
As consultations continue in Vienna to resolve outstanding issues and remove obstacles to the lifting of sanctions on Iran, the Biden administration has extended the US national emergency to Iran.