In a letter to Joe Biden, 150 Democrat members of US Congress announced their support for the next administration to reenter the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) without any new conditions. The members of Congress began their letter by congratulating Biden for his election as the next president of the United States, welcoming what they referred to as the “restoration of American leadership and diplomacy”.

The 150 signatories then turned the subject of Iran: “We know preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon through diplomacy will be a top priority of your administration, and we strongly believe that the JCPOA provides a critical framework to achieve this goal effectively.”

“We strongly endorse your call for Iran to return to strict compliance with the nuclear deal, the United States to rejoin the agreement, and subsequent follow-on negotiations,” the letter adds. “We understand that returning to the agreement will require the selective lifting of some sanctions and rigorous implementation to verifiably ensure Iranian compliance.”

The Democrat members of Congress refer to the JCPOA as an agreement that had limited Iran’s nuclear program before the Trump administration’s unilateral exit.

The signatories also claim that the result of President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign was Iran’s nuclear program going unchecked, and say the administration has failed to prevent Iran’s escalating behavior, which has increased the possibility of violent conflict.

“Iran’s other destabilizing activities in the region, such as its support for terrorism, development of ballistic missiles, human rights violations against its own people, and holding of foreign political prisoners, including Americans, warrant strong and coordinated international diplomacy,” the letter continues.

The letter also claims that in order to deal with Iran’s destabilizing behavior, there needs to be international cooperation and a nuclear deal in place.

“Iran’s other destabilizing activities in the region, such as its support for terrorism, development of ballistic missiles, human rights violations against its own people, and holding of foreign political prisoners, including Americans, warrant strong and coordinated international diplomacy,” the letter states. “The JCPOA does not prevent our ability to address these destabilizing activities. An unrestrained Iranian nuclear program would exacerbate these other threats posed by Iran and inspire a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.”

In the end, the signatories also hinted that they would support Biden in lifting some of the sanctions on Iran in order bring Iran back to compliance with the deal: “We understand that returning to the agreement will require the selective lifting of some sanctions and rigorous implementation to verifiably ensure Iranian compliance.”

While President Trump rejected the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and left it unilaterally in 2018, launching the maximum pressure campaign to force the Islamic Republic into renegotiation, Joe Biden has supported returning to the nuclear deal and negotiation with Iran. The question is how far Iran would be willing to compromise on the non-nuclear issues if US sanctions are eased and it gets an economic reprieve.