WASHINGTON—President-elect Joe Biden’s national security adviser said the incoming administration wants to put Iran “back into the box” by rejoining the nuclear deal and forcing Tehran to comply with the terms of the original agreement.
In return, the U.S. would be prepared to honor the terms of the 2015 deal, said Jake Sullivan, Biden’s choice for national security adviser, at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit on Monday.
“We think that it is feasible and achievable,” Sullivan said.
Biden will attempt to undo the damage his camp believes was done when President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal in 2018. Re-entering that agreement, which would mean lifting sanctions worth billions of dollars to Tehran, would lay the groundwork for a “follow-on negotiation” on broader issues, he said.
Sullivan, who hasn’t spoken publicly much since being named national security adviser, spoke to the CEO Council on Iran and a range of other national security and foreign-policy issues likely to confront the Biden administration. He discussed reforming international institutions and strengthening ties with allies while confronting adversaries and global competitors like China. But all those efforts would be predicated on a strong domestic policy that focused on American workers to be competitive, he said.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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