Reviving diplomacy, Biden seeks Iran talks after rejoining deal

President-elect Joe Biden has signaled he will return the United States to a nuclear accord with Iran before quickly launching talks on other concerns, reviving diplomacy to ease soaring tensions.

In his most substantive remarks on Iran since his victory, Biden told The New York Times that he still backed the 2015 deal negotiated under Barack Obama from which defeated president Donald Trump withdrew.

Biden told the newspaper's columnist Thomas Friedman that "it's going to be hard" but that if Iran returned to compliance, the United States would rejoin the agreement.

The top U.S. priority should be to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon, Biden said, explaining, "The last goddamn thing we need in that part of the world is a buildup of nuclear capability."

After re-entering the agreement, "in consultation with our allies and partners, we're going to engage in negotiations and follow-on agreements to tighten and lengthen Iran's nuclear constraints, as well as address the missile program."
Biden also seeks to address U.S. concerns about Iran's support to militants in Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon and to the Syrian regime.

A return to the agreement, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), would delight U.S. allies in Europe which note that Iran was in compliance until Trump pulled out.

Friedman wrote that Biden also wanted to bring into discussions Iran's U.S.-allied Arab neighbors such as Saudi Arabia that have been critical of U.S. engagement with their neighbor.

Staunchly opposed to the agreement is Israel, which was widely suspected in the assassination Friday on the outskirts of Tehran of Iran's leading nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad...

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