Iran pressure to persist under Biden: US envoy

abu dhabi — The US special representative for Iran insisted on Thursday that a pressure campaign of sanctions targeting Iran would persist into the administration of Joe Biden, even as the presidentelect has pledged to potentially return America to Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Elliott Abrams, who also serves as the US special representative to Venezuela, said sanctions targeting Iran for human rights violations, its ballistic missile programme and its regional influence would go on. That, as well as continued scrutiny by United Nations inspectors and American partners in the Mideast, would maintain that pressure, he said.

Iran now has far more uranium than allowed under the deal since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018. The Mideast also has been roiled by tensions between Tehran and Washington, which pushed the two countries to the brink of war at the beginning of the year.

“Even if you went back to the (deal) and even if the Iranians were willing to return ... this newly enriched uranium, you would not have solved these really fundamental questions of whether Iran is going to be permitted to violate long-term commitments it has made to the world community,” Abrams told The Associated Press in an interview at the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Iran’s politicians have increasingly discussed the possibility of the US returning to the deal, which saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. —

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, has received Elliott Abrams, US Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela. Held at the ministry’s office in Abu Dhabi, the meeting saw the two officials discuss bilateral ties, as well as international issues, including Iran, Syria and Iraq, and developments in Venezuela. —