WASHINGTON — The United States and Iran will have a brief window between their upcoming presidential elections in which to ease dangerous tensions, according to a new report from a Washington think tank that proposes pathways for resuming talks on Iran’s nuclear program and regional security. The bipartisan Center for a New American Security report, co-authored by an informal adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, proposes a phased approach to easing tensions that could be adopted by Republican President Donald Trump in a second term or Biden, if he wins the Nov. 3 election. Tensions spiked after Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated by world powers during the Obama administration, when Biden was vice president. A resumption of U.S. sanctions has battered Iran’s economy and pushed Tehran to breach restraints designed to block nuclear weapons development. The U.S. presidential election opens a window for easing the crisis before Iran holds a vote sometime next year expected to result in a hard-liner succeeding President Hassan Rouhani, under whom the nuclear deal was reached, according to the report seen by Reuters and to be released on Tuesday.

Source: International New York Times August 03, 2020 16:52 UTC