Sullivan: Trump’s NPT-Violating Demand Leads to Deadlock in Nuclear Talks
According to the english section of webangah News Agency,citing Mehr news Agency and Harvard University’s website,Jake Sullivan served as National Security Advisor to President Joe Biden from January 2021 to January 2025. He also held the position of Deputy National Security Advisor under then-Vice President Biden during Barack Obama’s governance.
The former U.S. official addressed recent escalations by the current American administration and Israel in blatant incursions into Iranian territory, contrary to the UN Charter. he stated: “Between 2012 and 2014, we engaged in a series of secret negotiations that ultimately paved the way for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. nuclear negotiations are especially challenging because thay are both highly political and technical-covering areas such as understanding the nuclear fuel cycle, verification methods, nuclear stockpile management, and centrifuge operations. You have to focus on the bigger picture.”
Regarding prospects for nuclear talks with Iran, he explained: “We aimed to place Iran’s nuclear program within a framework preventing them from ever developing nuclear weapons capability. At the same time, Iran wanted to preserve its civilian nuclear capacity; skeptics argued that Tehran might seek breakout potential by maintaining some capabilities for future purposes. Thus, each side came with distinct objectives.”
He added that these negotiations involved more than just america and Iran: “Several othre countries participated-including our closest allies like Britain, France, and Germany-and at times even some of our toughest rivals like China and russia were part of these discussions.”
On negotiating with a country without formal diplomatic ties with Washington, he said: “The most effective approach was conducting talks entirely covertly-keeping them hidden from media and public scrutiny-and trying to meet face-to-face directly with Iranian counterparts to discuss the overall framework for a nuclear deal. However, we also recognized this agreement could not remain secret indefinitely since it needed eventual presentation to allies, partners, and global actors.” After secret talks concluded,public negotiations led by Wendy Sherman followed-a multi-layered transition involving not only America but also UN security Council members plus Germany and the European Union all actively engaged in this process.
Sullivan further discussed former President Donald Trump’s demands during his presidency: “I believe when President Trump took office he sought an agreement he could claim was better than JCPOA but fundamentally did not believe strongly in its provisions himself. As president, he adopted a far tougher stance demanding complete dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program.” Under Obama-era terms negotiated by Biden as vice president,” Sullivan continued,”Iran retained limited civilian nuclear capacity under long-term verification mechanisms.” Trump essentially insisted that Iran possess no uranium enrichment capability whatsoever.
“When it came down specifically to uranium enrichment-the core activity of any nuclear program-Trump demanded all such enrichment be performed outside Iranian territory,” Sullivan said.
“Iran resisted firmly,” noting thier argument based on their rights under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which recognizes their entitlement to enrich uranium under International Atomic Energy Agency supervision.
The impasse created when Trump refused led Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to intervene militarily according to Sullivan: “He insisted military action was necessary while negotiations continued because waiting longer made no sense-the Iranians would never relent on those hardline demands so Israel had no choice but destroying their program forcibly.”
