Joe Biden walked into the White House promising to fix Trump’s mistakes. He would rejoin the nuclear deal. He would restore diplomacy. He would make America the reliable partner it used to be. Three years later, none of that happened.
Biden’s team spent months negotiating in Vienna. They talked indirectly through European intermediaries. They came close to a deal multiple times. Each time something blocked agreement. Iran wanted guarantees America would not leave again. Biden could not guarantee what a future president might do.
The talks dragged on through 2021 and 2022. Iran enriched more uranium while diplomats talked. They installed more advanced centrifuges. They reduced international inspections. The window for reviving the deal closed slowly as Iran’s program advanced.
Then came the protests in Iran. Mahsa Amini died and the streets filled with women demanding freedom. Biden faced pressure to support the protesters. Supporting them meant abandoning the deal because the deal strengthened the government killing them. He chose support over deal.
By 2023, everyone admitted the nuclear deal was dead. Iran had too much enrichment too far advanced. The old limits no longer made sense. A new deal would require new terms nobody could agree on. Diplomacy ended with nothing to show for it.
Biden also failed to build a better alternative. He talked about a longer and stronger deal that would address Iran’s missiles and proxies. But he never actually negotiated such a deal. He never offered Iran anything concrete. He just kept sanctions in place and hoped something would change.
Iran watched Biden’s failures and drew conclusions. America could not deliver on its promises. America could not negotiate reliably. America could not deter Iranian advances. The same lessons they learned from Trump, they now learned from Biden too..
