US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that Iran was not serious about the recent Vienna negotiations, indicating that there are alternative options if diplomacy fails.
According to former US officials, one of the options presented is to maintain all the sanctions that were imposed on Tehran, and this option amounts to the maximum pressure plan launched by former President Donald Trump in 2018.
There is also another possibility to implement the mechanism for the rapid return of United Nations sanctions known as “Snapback”, which expired at the end of 2020, where the Europeans can join the United States to impose international sanctions again according to that mechanism.
Washington will also try to persuade both China and Russia to join a more powerful sanctions regime, when they realize that the alternative to sanctions is war, in addition to President Joe Biden will work to intensify coercive diplomacy, combining sanctions and the threat of force.
The American effort, according to former American diplomats, may include persuading the Chinese government to stop Iranian oil imports.
Other issues on the table include launching secret operations to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program, in addition to Israel’s striking of Iranian nuclear facilities, as the Israeli government asserts that it will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Despite the tensions over Iran’s nuclear file, there are those who still call for giving diplomacy more space, to prevent negotiations from reaching a dead end.
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