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MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 9287 – Criticism In Saudi Arabia: The Biden Administration Is Determined To Renew Nuclear Talks With Iran – While Ignoring The Apprehensions Of The Countries In The Region

On April 6, 2021, indirect talks began in Vienna between Iran and representatives of the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, with European mediation, with the aim of reviving the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 – the U.S., U.K., France, Russia, and China plus Germany – from which the Trump administration withdrew in 2018. The U.S. participation in the talks angered many in Saudi Arabia, who complained about the administration’s insistence on renewing nuclear negotiations with Iran while ignoring the apprehensions of the countries in the region with regard to the danger Iran poses.

Former Saudi intelligence chief Turki Al-Faisal hinted that the new U.S. administration had submitted to Iranian extortion and called on the Gulf countries to prepare for the day when Iran will have nuclear weapons. The Saudi displeasure at the U.S. actions regarding Iran was expressed also in articles and op-eds in its press. They stated that the U.S. and Europe were showing negligence and hesitance in the face of Iran’s advancing nuclear program, and that not only did the U.S. lack a consistent policy regarding Iran but it was also falling into line with Iran and leveraging the Iranian issue in order to actualize its interests in the region and in the world. Several of the Saudi writers argued that the Vienna talks would produce nothing and that the Biden administration was continuing the Iran policy of the Obama administration and that therefore the countries in the region must act independently, without regard for the U.S.

It should be noted that since Biden was elected president, fears in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries regarding his policy of conciliation vis-à-vis Iran at their expense have continued to intensify. 
This report will present the criticism in Saudi Arabia about the Biden administration’s renewal of nuclear talks with Iran:

Former Saudi Intelligence Chief: The Biden Administration Is Returning To The Nuclear Agreement – And Disregarding The Apprehensions In The Region

Former Saudi intelligence chief and former Saudi ambassador to the U.S. Turki Al-Faisal, who is currently chairman of the board of directors of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, warned at a virtual Bahrain conference on April 8 that returning to the nuclear agreement with Iran would only exacerbate the conflicts in the region and hinted that the Biden administration was willing to submit to Iranian extortion. Calling on the Gulf states to prepare for the day when Iran would have nuclear weapons, he stressed that they were committed to disarmament from weapons of mass destruction.

Full report via www.mesop.de