Iran demands US compensation: Biden must ‘make up’ for Trump’s ‘mistakes’

Iran’s President Rouhani wants new U.S. administration to make amends. Iranian Foreign Ministry says Iran has list of “compensation” claims.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday called on President-elect Joe Biden to make amends for the errors committed by President Donald Trump and return Washington to its international commitments.

“An opportunity has arisen now for the next U.S. administration to make up for the past mistakes and return to the course of commitment to international obligations by respecting international principles,” Rouhani said in comments published by state-run Press TV.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that Iran has prepared a list of demands for which Biden must “compensate” the Islamic Republic, Al Arabiya reported.

During his time in the White House, Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal and returned harsh economic sanctions on Iran, known for being a country with one of the world’s worst human rights records. Iran’s economy has deteriorated under the sanctions, but Iran has shown no signs of easing its aggressive policies or ending its military intervention across the region.

The other partners to the nuclear deal – China, France, Russia, the UK, Germany and the EU – all stayed with the nuclear deal, but Iran began violating the agreement.

In June, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, revealed that Iran has exponentially increased its enriched uranium stockpile and demanded that “Iran immediately to cooperate fully” and stop blocking IAEA inspectors as it had done repeatedly in the past.

Although Biden’s victory was welcomed in many European capitals and is seen as the start of easing the cross-Atlantic tensions that arose during the Trump administration, there may be European pressure to seek a tougher new nuclear deal with the Iranians.

“Europeans are very much hoping for a détente in Washington-Tehran relations, especially in the context of the nuclear deal,” diplomatic affairs analyst Eldad Beck wrote in Israel Hayom.

“However, a situation has arisen here that will make it very difficult for Biden to move towards Tehran: There are only four years left until the end of the first timeframe of the agreement. The Iranians have already violated the agreement very blatantly, Even in the European capitals that have signed the nuclear agreement, voices are already being heard acknowledging the failure of the agreement,” Beck noted.

The Iranian leadership said, at least publicly, that it will not buckle under the U.S. sanctions that also affect Iranian trade with other countries. However, it has admitted that sanctions have caused damaged.

In September, during the U.S. election campaign, Rouhani said that no matter who won, America would have to bow to Iranian demands.

“Any U.S. administration after the upcoming elections will have no choice but to surrender to the resilience of the Iranian nation,” Rouhani said in his speech to the UN General Assembly.