One of the many destructive things that Trump did during his presidency was to pull out of the agreement Obama had negotiated with Iran to prevent them from building a nuclear bomb. That agreement was in the best interests of the United States. Trump re-installed harsh sanctions on Iran, more to try to undermine their government than to prevent their making a bomb. As of this time, the Biden administration has still not lifted the sanctions on Iran and reimplemented the JCPOA nuclear agreement (Joint Comprehensive Plan of action). I can understand there being some technical issues to resolve, and unfortunately I suspect that the Biden administration is not yet ready to contend with the political problems the Republicans would cause him if he were to reinstate the agreement. However, I think that now would be an excellent time to come to an agreement with Iran, and we should be willing to make some concessions to Iran to close the deal.
My thinking on this issue revolves around our current problems with Russia and its invasion of the Ukraine. Europe has allowed itself to become dangerously reliant on Russian oil, making them vulnerable to Russian pressure. The money Russia gets from its oil sales also are financing Putin’s regime and his reckless actions. Allowing Iran to sell oil to Europe would undercut Putin. We don’t have to be friends with Iran to play the “Iran card” against Putin. Reinstating the JCPOA agreement with Iran and allowing Iran to sell oil to Europe would undercut Putin’s regime. And if the Biden administration were to point out how Iranian oil sales to Europe would hurt Russia, it would give him political cover from the inevitable Republican attacks that he was “too soft” on Iran. It might even hurt the Republicans as Biden could show his strong stance against Russia. And I also still think the JCPOA agreement is in the best interests of the United States and the world. A win-win issue all around.