10 Dec 2020; MEMO: US President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the incoming administration hopes that by rejoining the 2015 nuclear deal signed between the six world powers and Iran, Tehran's nuclear program would be put "back into the box".
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal CEO Summit on Monday, Sullivan said that Biden's goal was to get Iran "to come back into compliance", with the agreement which in turn would put Iran's "program back in a box".
He added that once that was accomplished, new negotiations could begin on other issues, including Iran's involvement in other Middle Eastern countries.
"This is really up to Iran. If the country's leaders refused to rejoin the nuclear accord, the US could go to the rest of the world and say, you've got to join us now to formulate a strategy that would show the Iranians there really is no other choice," Sullivan said.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have soared since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from the Iran nuclear deal struck by President Barack Obama and began reimposing US sanctions that had been eased under the accord.
