Perhaps the most jarring irony of the monthslong negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear pact with Iran is that both Tehran and Washington badly want to make it happen—yet, in the end, may not be able to.
Why? Deepening mistrust is one reason: a toxic suspicion of the other side exacerbated by the orchestrated election last week of Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-liner with a murderous history who is to replace moderate Hassan Rouhani as Iran’s president in August. Although Raisi said he wants to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the 2015 nuclear deal is known, he and the Iranian regime are now making impossible demands. In particular, Tehran is now insisting on something U.S. President Joe Biden cannot deliver: a guarantee that no future U.S. administration will withdraw from the deal as Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, did.
