Will the US cause Iran to lose trust in it once again?
By Zohreh Qanadi
Staff writer
The Islamic Republic of Iran has always had justified reasons for harboring a lack of confidence in the United States and its policies over the past decades. This distrust has manifested in various intensities, with one notable instance being the impactful withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), by former president Donald Trump in 2018.
Trump claimed that the deal – which resulted in the lifting of many Western-led sanctions on Tehran in return for curbs on its nuclear activities – undermined the security of the American people, which he had sworn to protect, and, accordingly, ended US participation in it. He got the United States out of the agreement, and subsequently re-imposed those sanctions and more on Tehran. He also made it challenging for the European parties of the deal to keep it alive and closed the long-drawn diplomatic path that took years to yield results.
He did this despite a lack of evidence that Iran was violating the agreement. The International Atomic Energy Agency had verified Tehran’s compliance numerous times.
It was the United States that was in violation of an agreement that the international community believed was working. The US put the agreement under serious threat and prompted Tehran to retaliate by ramping up its nuclear activities to levels beyond what was allowed under the JCPOA.
Trump’s withdrawal raised doubts about US credibility and its ability to stick to international commitments.
In July 2021, upon Biden’s administration taking office, Iran’s Leader criticized the US as an untrustworthy partner, urging the new government to “learn” from the previous administration’s experience of engaging with them.
“The US has no hesitation in violating its promises and commitments, just as it violated the [nuclear] agreement, making it completely useless,” said Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
Shooting itself in the foot
Once more, the recent move by the US House of Representatives, passing a measure against another agreement with Iran, could undermine potential future agreements with the country for years.
On Thursday, the House passed a bipartisan measure that would block the Islamic Republic from accessing the $6 billion transferred by the US in a prisoner swap. This step was taken by the Democrats in response to Iran’s alleged role in the deadly attacks last month by Hamas on Israel. Almost half of the Democratic congressmen voted against endorsing President Biden’s prisoner deal with Iran, undermining his effective negotiations with Tehran. If it passes into law, it would be another instance of the US shooting itself in the foot, eroding diplomatic leverage and credibility once again.
The US and Iran reached an agreement in August that eventually saw the release of five detained Americans in Tehran, and an unknown number of Iranians imprisoned in the US, after billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets were transferred from banks in South Korea to Qatar. But days after the October 7 attack by Hamas, the US and Qatar agreed that Iran would not be able to access the money in the meantime, with officials stopping short of a full refreezing of the funds.
The Thursday bill — titled the No Funds for Iranian Terrorism Act — passed 307-119, as the voters sought to hold the Biden administration accountable for what they call their complicity in funding Iranian-backed terrorism in the Middle East.
This is while US officials have rebuffed this criticism, noting that not a single dollar has yet to be made available to Iran, and insisting that when it is, it can only be used for humanitarian purposes.
Critics like McCaul say that despite the money being restricted to aid, it is “fungible,” and could free up other funds for Tehran to provide support to Hamas, as they believe it did before it attacked Israel in early October.
Iran’s Leader at the time praised the Palestinian youths and masterminds of the operation for achieving a remarkable victory, rejecting as “miscalculations” the claims that the “epic” act was not a “Palestinian job.”
US officials also acknowledged that there was no concrete evidence of Iranian involvement in the Hamas attack from Gaza, with White House national security spokesman John Kirby saying that “Iran has long supported Hamas… but in terms of specific evidence on this, these sorts of attacks, no, we don’t have anything.”
Also, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said at the time that “Iran is a major player but we can’t yet say if it was involved in the planning or training.”
Iran’s own money
Moreover, Republicans are accusing the Biden administration of allocating funds to Iran that rightfully belonged to the country.
Ultimately, should this measure be passed as law, aside from undermining Tehran’s partially-regained trust in Washington and closing diplomatic channels, it would also disrupt humanitarian acts for the Iranian people. That law would force the US to impose sanctions on Qatari banks and any other entities engaged in transactions, preventing Iran’s assets from being spent on the purchase of food and medicine.
The unfolding events will reveal whether the Biden administration will support these amendments in becoming law, potentially dismantling half-hearted diplomacy with Iran once again.