Iranian presidential candidate says he is open to meeting with Biden

An Iranian presidential candidate said would be open to meeting with President Biden if voted into office in next week’s election.

Abdolnaser Hemmati, the former Iranian Central Bank chief, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday that he would be willing to meet with Biden but said the U.S. “needs to send better and stronger signals” to the Islamic Republic.

He specifically said the United States’ return to the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, which former President Trump said he was withdrawing from in 2018, would be central to any potential relationship between the two countries, as tensions continue to boil in the Mideast.

Hemmati, however, said he has not yet seen “anything serious” from the Biden administration.

“I think we haven’t seen anything serious from Mr. Biden’s side yet,” Hemmati told the AP.

“They first need to go back to the [nuclear deal] that they withdrew from. If we see the process and more confidence is built, then we can talk about that,” he added.

The Biden administration has said that it will not rejoin the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or lift U.S. sanctions unless Iran restrains its uranium enrichment. Tehran, however, has called on the U.S. to lift sanctions before making any changes to the nuclear program.

Democrats have backed up Biden’s efforts to rejoin the JCPOA, which was agreed to in 2015 under the Obama administration, but a number of Senate Republicans are strongly opposed to the move.

Hemmati said that any visit with Biden would depend on it being “within the framework of the general policies of the ruling system.”

“The Americans have sent positive signals but those signals haven’t been strong enough,” he said. “If there are stronger signals, it will affect how optimistic or pessimistic we are.”

When asked if Iran would be open to accepting additional restrictions, such as on its ballistic missile program, to receive relief from sanctions, Hemmati said the commitments must remain inside the framework of the deal.

“Iran’s nuclear commitments must be inside the framework of the [deal],” he said. “If they are not, neither the [supreme] leader nor the president will accept that.”

The Hill reached out to the White House for comment.

Hemmati is one of seven candidates running for president in Iran, all of whom have been approved by Iranian authorities, according to the AP. The election is scheduled for June 18.

According to polling cited by the AP, Hemmati is behind hard-line judiciary chief and front-runner Ebrahim Raisi, who is reportedly a favorite of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The AP noted that while Khamenei has final say on issues involving state, the president has the power to sway domestic issues and influence Iran’s approach on the world stage.

The country’s current president, Hassan Rouhani, has been considered a relatively moderate cleric in the Iranian theocracy, the wire service noted. Rouhani helped the country come to the nuclear agreement in 2015.