President Joe Biden has asked his staff to prepare a tougher approach to Iran on their nuclear program, the White House said Thursday, as attempts at diplomacy on the issue have come up empty.
“Given ongoing advances in Iran’s nuclear program, the President has asked his team to be prepared in the event that diplomacy fails,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
Psaki discussed the potential of a tougher approach during the White House daily briefing on Thursday.
“Based on the outcome of the last round of talks and the ongoing advancements in Iran nuclear facilities, we’re laying the path for the groundwork for another path entirely,” she said.
Iran has demanded that the United States lift sanctions before it would consider returning to the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by then-Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama.
President Trump campaigned on getting the United States out of the deal and kept his promise — leveling heavy economic sanctions and employing a maximum pressure campaign to force Iran to abandon their nuclear weapon efforts.
In June, Biden lifted some of the Iran sanctions and even suggested in October he would go further if their leaders would continue diplomatic talks.
But Psaki indicated that he was losing patience, as Iran showed no indications of negotiating.
“If diplomacy cannot get on track soon, we will have no choice but to take additional measures to further constrain Iran’s economic sectors,” she said.
Israel recently shared intelligence with the United States and European allies showing that Iran is moving to enrich uranium to weapons-grade purity.
Psaki said Biden was considering other options.
“Given the ongoing advances in Iran’s nuclear program, the President has asked his team to be prepared in the event that diplomacy fails and we must turn to other options, and that requires preparation,” she said.
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