The Biden administration appears as intent as ever on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, despite the Iranian government escalating its alleged efforts to assassinate American citizens on U.S. soil.
President Biden continues to believe “diplomacy is the best path” to ensuring “Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon,” a National Security Council spokesperson told Just the News. “As long as he believes pursuing [nuclear] talks is in U.S. national security interests, we will continue to do so.
“At the same time, the Biden administration has not and will not waiver [sic] in protecting and defending all Americans against threats of violence and terrorism. We will continue to bring to bear the full resources of the U.S. government to protect Americans.”
That same message is being echoed across the Biden administration.
At a press briefing Wednesday, State Department spokesman Ned Price also reaffirmed that the administration is fully committed to restoring the nuclear deal.
“We have been sincere, we have been steadfast in our commitment to seeking a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA,” said Price, using the initialism for Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the official name of the nuclear deal. “We are confident that a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA remains the best and really the most effective means by which to once again verifiably and permanently constrain Iran’s nuclear program.”
The JCPOA, from which former President Trump withdrew the U.S. in 2018, places temporary curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for large-scale sanctions relief.
The administration’s comments came amid an ongoing wave of alleged Iranian plots inside the U.S.
Last week, the Justice Department charged a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an Iranian military force and U.S.-designated terrorist organization, with plotting to murder former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton, who served in the Trump administration.
The announcement came as a man was indicted in a separate case on charges he was armed with a loaded AK-47 and tried to enter the Brooklyn home of journalist Masih Alinejad, a U.S. citizen and outspoken Iranian dissident. Last July, the Justice Department announced charges against Iranian intelligence agents for plotting to kidnap Alinejad and forcibly return her to Iran.
At the same time, author Salman Rushdie, a U.S. citizen whom the Iranian government had for years sought to kill over writings it deemed blasphemous, was stabbed multiple times before a speech in Chautauqua, N.Y. on Friday. Rushdie, 75, is alive and reportedly on the mend but being treated for serious injuries.
A New Jersey man with an image of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the avatar on his email account was accused of attacking Rushdie. He pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault after a grand jury indicted him.
Following the attack, Iranian state media castigated Rushdie as an “apostate” responsible for “blasphemous” writings.
Still, Iran has denied involvement in attempts to harm Bolton, Alinejad, or Rushdie. However, most observers aren’t believing Tehran.
Meanwhile, the Dispatch reported Thursday that people working on behalf of the Iranian government have targeted prominent American members of the group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) through in-person surveillance and cyber operations.
According to the report, targets of the Iranian campaign include Bolton, former Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, billionaire Thomas Kaplan, and former George W. Bush administration official Mark Wallace.
“I’m not aware of any time in our history that a hostile foreign government is systematically and pervasively targeting attacks on American soil against Americans,” Wallace told the Dispatch. “This is a state actor pursuing these activities against Americans. That sure looks to me like an act of war.”
The recent wave of plots has spurred critics of the nuclear deal and Iranian dissidents to call on the Biden administration to halt ongoing nuclear talks with Iran.
