Sherman: 'All Options On Table' No Matter Iran Nuclear Talks Outcome

Faced with increasing pressure from Republicans, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, has denied that Iran has the upper hand in Vienna nuclear talks.

In an interview with MSNBC Thursday, Wendy Sherman – who was closely involved in negotiating the 2015 agreement, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) – said “all options” were on the table regardless of what happened in Vienna. Other administration officials have portrayed reviving the JCPOA was an alternative to military confrontation.

"We're not going to [just] accept anything Iran has to offer,” Sherman said. “We will re-enter the JCPOA in its fullness if Iran maintains compliance with it. And all of our options always remain on the table, regardless of what gets chosen here."

Politicians in Tehran have increasingly highlighted Iran’s surviving the ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions imposed by the US since 2018 – with the economy returning to growth after two years’ deep recession and oil exports slowly increasingsanctions still officially in force.

Some Iranian media have also detected an upper hand in the expansion of the nuclear program, including enrichment up to 60 percent, since 2019. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who has been under attack recently domestic opponents, said February 5 that talks in Vienna would be "seriously continued with full hands."

Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator and a JCPOA opponent, tweeted on February 8:“They [the US] were saying that Iran’s oil exports should reach zero, while after three years we are selling 1.2 million barrels per day… and this volume is increasing,”

Sherman’s interview came as opponents of the JCPOA in Washington stepped up attacks on the Biden administration. In a letter to President Joe Biden earlier this week, Republican senators led by Ted Cruz argued Congress should review any ‘new’ deal. Administration officials have pointed out they aim to revive an existing agreement that Republican president Donald Trump left in 2018 without approval from Congress.

Nuclear arsenal

"As a result of President Biden's weakness and appeasement, this administration is ramping up to give a nuclear arsenal to the Ayatollah in Iran," Cruz said in the Senate February 7.

US supporters of reviving the deal have argued that Iran’s nuclear program, which was limited by the JCPOA, has expanded since Trump stormed out of the agreement and imposed ‘maximum pressure,’ and that continued expansion of the nuclear program outside the JCPOA risks military confrontation with Israel or the United States.

President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated Friday that Iran was pinning no hopes on reviving the JCPOA and had confidence in its own abilities and resources. Both Raisi and predecessor President Hassan Rouhani have consistently argued that despite ‘maximum pressure’ Iran will not accept demands beyond the terms of the JCPOA.

Negotiators in Vienna have said the talks may be nearing agreement. In a tweet Thursday, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's lead negotiator, suggested the process was at"the final stage. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Thursday in Tel Aviv she was “convinced that a full restoration of the JCPOA would make the region more secure, including Israel.”