While the outgoing Trump has declared Iran an arch-foe and sought to isolate it globally, president-elect Biden has proposed to offer Iran a “credible path back to diplomacy.”…reports Asian Lite News
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani vowed Wednesday to take “any opportunity” to lift US sanctions against Tehran, following President Donald Trump’s defeat by Democratic election rival Joe Biden. Arab News reports
While the outgoing Trump has declared Iran an arch-foe and sought to isolate it globally, president-elect Biden has proposed to offer Iran a “credible path back to diplomacy.”
“Our aim is to lift the pressure of sanctions from the shoulders of our people,” Rouhani said in televised remarks during a weekly cabinet meeting.
“Wherever this favorable opportunity arises we will act on our responsibilities. No one should miss any opportunity.”
“National security and national interests are not factional and partisan issues,” Rouhani added, after conservatives blasted his reformist and moderate coalition for its “over-excitement” for re-engagement with the Islamic republic’s nemesis.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to impose a “flood of sanctions” on Iran by January 20, 2021, after it recently recently targeted the Islamic Republic’s oil and financial sectors, a media report said.
The administration, in coordination with Israel and several Gulf states, is pushing for the new sanctions, informed Israeli sources told the Virginia-based Axios media outlet on Sunday.
According to the sources, US envoy for Iran Elliott Abrams arrived in Israel on Sunday and met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat to discuss the plan.
On Monday, Abrams will meet Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi to brief them on the proposal, the sources told Axios.
After Israel, the envoy is scheduled to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to discuss the sanctions plan.
The development comes several days after Abrams said at a closed briefing that the Trump administration wants to announce a new set of sanctions on Iran every week until January 20, when President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the new American President, another informed source told Axios.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to arrive in Israel on November 18.
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