Blinken: Trump Can Negotiate to Prevent Iran from Acquiring Nuclear Weapons

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on Wednesday, December 19, referred to the recent military failures of the Islamic Republic in the region and deemed the change in Iran's nuclear doctrine as 'natural,' advising Donald Trump to seek negotiations to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. Speaking at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Blinken stated, 'In the past year, Israel's military attacks on Iran's air defenses and the weakening of Hezbollah in Lebanon, along with the downfall of Bashar al-Assad, have placed the Islamic Republic in a difficult position, and for this reason, I do not think that acquiring nuclear weapons is inevitable for the Islamic Republic, as Tehran, having lost various defensive lines, is naturally considering the nuclear option more.' He added, 'It would be better for Donald Trump, the elected President of the United States, to negotiate with the Islamic Republic to prevent the Iranian government from acquiring nuclear weapons,' noting that 'Tehran officials are aware of the consequences of acquiring nuclear weapons, and I believe there is now an opportunity for negotiation.' Blinken also rejected calls for the U.S. to attempt to overthrow the Islamic Republic in Iran, stating, 'If we look at the past 20 years, our experiments in regime change have not been very successful.' Acknowledging the existence of internal opposition against the structure of the Islamic Republic, he claimed, 'This opposition is not uniform. It reflects at least half of the population, but not all of it. Look at the differences between cities and rural areas. There is still a significant group of conservatives loyal to the regime.' While Secretary Blinken invites the Trump administration to negotiate with the Islamic Republic, it is noteworthy that during his first term, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear agreement made by the Obama administration with Tehran and imposed extensive sanctions on the Islamic Republic. However, the Biden administration, after taking office in 2021, began indirect negotiations with the Iranian government to revive the nuclear agreement. These negotiations have stalled due to disagreements over the scope of sanctions relief. The European Troika on Tuesday, prior to the review of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program at the Security Council and the presentation of the Secretary-General's report on Resolution 2231 regarding the compliance of Tehran's nuclear program with this resolution, issued a statement calling for the Iranian government to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, halt its current nuclear program, reduce tensions, and return to the path of diplomacy. In their statement, the three countries referenced the escalation of uranium enrichment by Iran and threats related to the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, citing the International Atomic Energy Agency's report and stating that Iran has increased its uranium enrichment to 60% without a valid civilian justification and has raised its stockpile of enriched uranium to an unprecedented level, which enables the Iranian government to quickly obtain sufficient fissile material to produce nuclear weapons. The European Troika also deemed the installation of advanced centrifuges in Iran as a dangerous step and warned that these actions seriously undermine the nuclear agreement and escalate tensions.