The White House said it was not throwing Russia a lifeline by exempting sanctions on the country’s nuclear sector, despite Moscow’s attempts to leverage the issue during high-stake talks over a return to the Iran nuclear deal.
The United States has imposed heavy economic penalties on Russia in response to its war in Ukraine, seeking to drive up the costs of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. But it hasn’t touched Russia’s nuclear sector or the companies that handle fuel swaps, including with Iran.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Biden’s press secretary pushed back on charges that the U.S. was giving Russia an out from the West’s heavy slate of sanctions designed to punish Moscow’s aggression. Russia last week halted talks around a return to the deal seeking to use its role in the 2015 JCPOA as leverage to pry apart the sanctions imposed on Moscow after it invaded Ukraine.
“There is absolutely no pass given,” Jen Psaki said when asked about exempting Moscow’s nuclear sector. She said Russia would not receive “additional assistance or sanctions relief,” adding that “they have an implementation role” in the historical deal.
Measures targeting Russia’s nuclear sector industry would make it impossible to implement the technical aspects of the 2015 nuclear deal, among other potential ramifications.
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Russia’s civil nuclear energy giant Rosatom exports excess stockpiles of nuclear material out of Iran in exchange for fuel that meets the limits of the 2015 nuclear deal. The company also provides enriched uranium to the U.S. and maintains legacy nuclear facilities around the world.
Moscow has a commercial interest in ensuring Iran remains reliant on it for the fuel cycle and doesn’t develop its own capacity, some analysts say. The U.S. has viewed Russia’s interests as a check on Tehran’s ambitions.
Psaki said Friday that Iran was growing more aggressive in the region, while rapidly advancing its nuclear program, arguing that the deal proved to be a check on the regime’s ambitions.
Since exiting the deal, “the Iranian government has actually doubled their budget,” Psaki said and noted actions by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Last weekend, Iran launched a missile attack in northern Iraq where U.S. forces are stationed, which the regime said was in retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed two members of the IRGC.
Asked about reports that the White House could de-list the corps as a terrorist organization, Biden’s press secretary reiterated the administration’s position that a deal would work to restrain Iran.
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“The notion that the status quo is effective and making us safer just doesn’t bear out,” she said. “In fact, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard has only been strengthened.”
