The White House offered its version of Ronald Reagan’s “trust but verify” quote when asked about Russia’s involvement in nuclear talks with Iran.
President Joe Biden’s team has been engaged in negotiations to revive the Iran nuclear deal, to which Moscow is a party. Progress on the talks has been slow, and Russia has invaded Ukraine over U.S. and Western objections.
“Well, I think it’s not about trust in any of these negotiations or discussions,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “It’s about verifying and trusting later, including with the Iranians.”
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Psaki had been asked whether the Biden administration still trusted Russia “to be an honest broker in the talks with Iran right now.” The White House had canceled planned contacts with Russia and is seeking to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin on the global stage because of his invasion of Ukraine.
The Iran nuclear deal was negotiated under then-President Barack Obama while Biden was vice president and John Kerry, the current administration’s climate envoy, was secretary of state. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action restricted Iran’s uranium enrichment in exchange for gradually lifting sanctions on the regime in Tehran.
Critics said the deal was inadequate to halt Iran’s progress toward nuclear weapons, and then-President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement during his term.
Russia is still participating in the diplomacy aimed at bringing Iran back into the pact. The administration has said it is committed to continuing to engage with the Kremlin on issues “fundamental to our national security interest.”
“The fact that Russia has now invaded Ukraine should not give Iran the green light to develop a nuclear weapon,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Friday.
“We will continue until we reach an agreement or announce the collapse of negotiations next week,” French chief negotiator Philippe Errera told Iran International News last week.
Reuters reported on “significant progress” in the negotiations, though thorny issues remain unresolved.
The talks in Vienna are taking place in the shadow of Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has been the focus of considerable diplomatic attention.
“There could be effects in both directions,” Meir Ben-Shabbat, who served as national security adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the Times of Israel. “On the one hand, it could get in the way of the rush toward an agreement, because of the difficulty of bringing representatives to sign the agreement during this time. On the other hand, it could lead to the mistaken conclusion that a deal must be signed quickly in order to remove this issue from the agenda and to focus on the crisis in Europe.”
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Reagan often cited the Russian proverb “trust but verify” when discussing arms control agreements with the Soviet Union during the 1980s. In his 1989 farewell address, Reagan said Soviet reforms and diplomatic gains did not alter this calculus.
“It’s still trust, but verify. It’s still play, but cut the cards,” Reagan said. “It’s still watch closely, and don’t be afraid to see what you see.”
