J Street applauds President Biden for confirming today, in remarks delivered to the Munich Security Conference, that his administration is prepared to re-engage in talks with the P5+1 on Iran’s nuclear program.
These statements follow important moves by the administration this week to formally rescind the Trump administration’s claim that the United States had invoked the JCPOA’s “snapback” mechanism, as well as to ease travel restrictions on Iranian diplomats. Together, they provide a critical opening for all parties to the agreement to take the steps necessary to return to compliance with the agreement. We hope that serious discussion between the members of the P5+1 can begin soon.
It’s no surprise that those who have always opposed meaningful diplomacy with Iran are now furiously rehashing their old arguments in response to these developments. Those arguments have been conclusively disproven by the success of the JCPOA when it was fully implemented and by the devastating consequences of Trump’s breaking the agreement and abandoning good-faith diplomacy in favor of sanctions and belligerence.
The security of the US and our allies now depends on a renewed commitment to responsible diplomacy. There’s a very good reason why nearly three-quarters of Jewish American voters support the US returning to and then building on the JCPOA agreement: because diplomacy has worked, and can work again.