Trump left behind a sanctions minefield for Biden

[babylonsister]

Trump left behind a sanctions minefield for Biden
The new administration may find that reviving the Iran deal is much easier said that done.
By NAHAL TOOSI
01/30/2021 07:00 AM EST


It was one of Joe Biden’s few concrete campaign promises on foreign policy: He’d rejoin a nuclear pact his predecessor ripped as “horrible” and “the worst deal ever.” But to achieve that goal, is Biden willing to declare that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is not a terrorist organization?

How about lifting U.S. sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran, which stands accused of funding proxy Middle East militias? Or will Biden do away with sanctions aimed at Iranians who tried to interfere in the U.S. election?

Thanks to President Donald Trump’s imposition of these and other sanctions on Iran, such questions are sure to plague Biden and his aides as they seek a path back to the 2015 nuclear agreement. The president’s team is in a political bind: They must tread carefully before rolling back the thicket of sanctions Trump left behind, but Iran insists most if not all of them must be eliminated before the deal can be revived. Already, Republicans – and even some Democrats — are signaling they intend to fight Biden every step of the way. And while Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Friday that tackling Iran’s nuclear program is a “critical early priority,” others in the administration have declined to put a timeframe on returning to the nuclear deal.

For now, career U.S. government employees involved in sanctions policy have been thinking through what steps to take to return to the deal, a U.S. official said. They plan to submit their ideas to incoming Biden political appointees, including Rob Malley, a veteran foreign affairs practitioner whom Biden has named as a special envoy for Iran.

So what will Biden do? Here are the basic contours of the debate:

more...

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/30/biden-iran-sanctions-463948

[NthrnNYker]

1. Utter Nonsense

Utter Nonsense.

No "minefield" at all.

Biden can nullify every single 'sanction' imposed by Trump with a stroke of a pen..... by executive order.

How, you might ask ?

Well, the basis being Trump's 'sanctions' vs. Iran are a violation of International law.

The JCPOA was enshrined in International Law as a result of it's approval by the UN Security Council.

Period.

[moonscape]

2. I take the minefield to be political, not legal. n/t