Iran's ex-president blames Tehran for missed US nuclear deal

Former President Hassan Rouhani has acknowledged that his administration came close to reviving the 2015 nuclear deal under Biden, but Tehran’s internal divisions prevented the agreement.

"Biden’s election was a golden opportunity for the Islamic Republic," Rouhani said Tuesday in an interview with Iran newspaper. "We could have restored the nuclear deal in 2021, but due to political disputes over who would take the presidency next, that opportunity was lost. Now, our situation is harder than ever."

According to Rouhani, who served from 2013 to 2021, his top negotiator at the time, Abbas Araghchi—now Iran’s foreign minister—had reached a framework agreement for reviving the deal with Robert Malley, President Joe Biden’s special envoy for Iran.

Malley, who led US efforts to restart nuclear negotiations, was placed on unpaid leave in April 2023 amid an FBI investigation into his handling of classified information. A Wall Street Journal report in September said that Malley had clicked on a phishing link that compromised his personal email and may have moved classified meeting notes to an unauthorized account.

During Malley’s tenure, the Biden administration informally eased enforcement of US oil sanctions on Iran which were imposed by President Donald Trump in 2018. Iranian oil exports, which had dropped to 250,000 barrels per day in 2019 under Trump’s maximum-pressure campaign, surged to nearly 2 million barrels per day during Biden’s presidency.

Rouhani also said that Malley and Araghchi’s agreement would have ensured not only a US return to the nuclear deal but also the reversal of Trump-era policies, including sanctions on Iran’s Supreme Leader’s office and the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.

Rouhani, who according to Iranian laws could run for a third term, was succeeded by hardliner cleric Ebrahim Raisi in June 2021. His administration resumed talks with JCPOA signatories, but negotiations collapsed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The former president blamed internal power struggles for the failure of the negotiations. “Some were more concerned about preventing my administration from achieving success than about the national interest,” he said.

Rouhani’s latest remarks come after he suggested last week that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s firm rejection of direct negotiations with Washington might not be absolute—despite Khamenei himself maintaining otherwise. Nevertheless, with Trump back in the White House, Rouhani acknowledged that engaging with Washington will be even more challenging. “Working with Trump is extremely difficult and complex,” he said. “I hope our officials find a way forward.”

As tensions between the US and Iran remain high, Rouhani’s comments hint at the differing views within Tehran’s leadership on how to approach Washington, both in the past and moving forward.