China and Russia will keep Iran from building a bomb
The U.S. pursuit of a return to the Iran deal has received new strength after recent talks in Vienna appeared to indicate that working groups might bring Tehran and Washington closer to a series of agreements. The original 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed by China, France, Germany, Iran, Russia, the United States, United Kingdom and European Union. The complex deal was supposed to block Iranian pathways to a nuclear weapon in exchange for sanctions relief. It also was supposed to prevent a war with Iran.
Largely absent in discussions about claims that Iran will develop a nuclear weapon if the U.S. doesn't enter into a new Iran deal are questions about whether China, Russia and even Turkey might restrain Iran from its progress toward making a bomb. Because much of the discussion focuses on the U.S. and Iran, Tehran's ties with Beijing and Moscow largely are ignored.
Iran recently entered into a 25-year cooperation agreement with China. Both China and Russia don't want a nuclear-armed Iran, and Iran's neighbor Turkey likely would not want Iran to be armed with nuclear weapons in the region. Therefore, the real restraint on Iran's nuclear ambitions may not be a U.S. strategy or a new Iran nuclear deal, but rather, Iran's need to please other authoritarian regimes. The U.S. should consider this in its discussions with Iran.
Recently, Iran met signatories of the JCPOA in Vienna while the U.S. was sidelined because Washington withdrew from the deal under the Trump administration. There is a lot of pressure on the Biden administration to cave to Iranian demands. At the heart of the problem is a misunderstanding of the current restraints on Iran's nuclear program. Iran uses nuclear enrichment as leverage to goad the West into giving Tehran sanctions relief, essentially demanding cash in exchange for not building a nuclear bomb.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-and-russia-will-keep-iran-from-building-a-bomb/ar-BB1fzMft?li=BBnbfcL
