New York: While the second round of talks between Iran and the United States hung in the balance, President Donald Trump said Monday that he was offering Tehran a better deal than the agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which he ripped up in 2018 as favouring Iran.
“The deal that we are making with Iran will be far better than the JCPOA, commonly referred to as ‘The Iran Nuclear Deal’, penned by [former President] Barack Hussein Obama and Sleepy Joe Biden [his predecessor as president], one of the worst deals ever made having to do with the security of our country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
That was an attempt to salvage the talks now in jeopardy as Trump seeks a way out of the conflict.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the Security Council, along with Germany and the European Union, in 2015 to curtail Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for lifting some sanctions.
Trump denounced it during his 2016 campaign, and after his election, he said the United States would withdraw from it, which it did in 2018.
While Trump has said that Vice President JD Vance, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Special Representative Steve Witkoff would be heading to Islamabad for the second round of negotiations, Iran has not confirmed its participation.
Tasnim news agency quoted Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei saying at his weekly briefing on Monday, “So far, we have not made any decisions regarding the next round of negotiations.”
He cited the United States capture of an Iranian ship over the weekend as a reason for holding up Tehran’s participation, calling it “an act of aggression”.
Iran and the United States are in a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, with the United States imposing a blockade of Iranian ports, and Iran reneging on its commitment to keep it open during the ceasefire reached nearly two weeks ago.
Trump had earlier said that Iran had agreed to United States conditions, the chief among them being completely ending nuclear programmes and stopping missile programmes.
Iran has denied that it had agreed to any deal with Trump.
(IANS)
