Raisi, new Iranian leader: I will never meet Biden, I will not give up missiles
In his first press conference since his landslide victory in Friday's national elections, Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi said Monday that he is not willing to meet President Biden at any time nor is he willing to negotiate on the Islamic Republic's ballistic missile program.
True, he endorsed the ongoing efforts in Vienna for a nuclear deal to restore the JCPOA, stressing that Washington must immediately loosen and drop sanctions in fulfillment of its original obligations under the agreement. "The United States is obliged to lift all oppressive sanctions against Iran," he stressed.
Raisi gave a quick and simple "No" when asked about a potential future meeting with Biden in relation to the nuclear deal negotiations. The Associated Press described that “He frowned and looked forward, without elaborating. His moderate competitor in the election, Abdolnasser Hemmati, had suggested during the campaign that he might meet Biden ”.
In relation to this, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki reiterated that the US currently has no diplomatic relations with Iran, nor "any plans to meet at the leader level, so it is not clear that anything has actually changed. on that front ".
Interestingly, he added the caveat that the White House understands regardless that the person to meet would not be the Iranian president in such a case, but that “the decision-making leader is the supreme leader. This was the case before the election; it is the case today; it will probably be the same going forward ”.
After Raisi's victory, and with the more "moderate" Rouhani now out (with his term expiring on August 3), the Biden administration has made it clear that it hopes to finalize a restored nuclear deal in Vienna before the settlement of Raisi.
An administration official told Axios: "If we don't have an agreement before a new government is formed, I think it would raise serious questions about how feasible it will be."
A surprising statement released Monday by the newly elected Iranian president is that he expressed a desire to improve relations with the Sunni states in the Gulf. It is a pity that the problem of the Shiite rebels in Yemen is on this path.
Ultimately, the time to reach a nuclear deal is running out quickly for Biden. With each passing day, the end of the negotiations is approaching and the return to the situation that began with Trump.
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The article Raisi, new Iranian leader: I will never meet Biden, I will not give up missiles comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/raisi-nuovo-leader-iraniano-non-incontrero-mai-biden-non-rinuncero-ai-missili/ on Wed, 23 Jun 2021 06:00:09 +0000.