Outside the G20 meeting, four heads of state and government are meeting to discuss the nuclear deal with Iran
Saudi Arabia will develop a nuclear weapon if its opponent Iran does so first, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in an interview, Wednesday (20).
“If they get one, we have to get it,” the Gulf state’s de facto leader told Fox News.
On Tuesday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said the United States should demonstrate its “goodwill and determination” to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which Washington abandoned in 2018.
“By withdrawing from the JCPOA, the US has violated the agreement… America should demonstrate its goodwill and determination,” Raisi said in a speech to the UN General Assembly, referring to the English acronym for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Tehran six world powers.
After taking office in January 2021, US President Joe Biden attempted to negotiate the resumption of the 2015 nuclear deal, under which Iran limited its nuclear program in return for a lifting of sanctions imposed by the US, the European Union and the United Nations.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018, saying it was too generous toward Tehran, and reimposed sweeping economic sanctions on Iran.
Efforts to revive the pact appeared to have stalled about a year ago when diplomats said Iran rejected what European Union mediators described as a final proposal.
Diplomats now believe the 2015 deal is unsalvageable as Iran has made progress, particularly in operating advanced centrifuges that have much higher production of enriched uranium.