Former White House adviser: Washington will eventually return to a deal similar to the JCPOA.

Kabul Times News | America

Jake Sullivan: US will eventually return to a deal similar to the JCPOA; concerns about Iran's nuclear program have increased.

Former White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said that the United States will eventually return to a nuclear agreement similar to the one signed with Iran during the presidency of Barack Obama.

Sullivan said: "Ultimately, we could have reached a nuclear agreement. It would have been very similar to the one that was negotiated and finalized many years ago by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Wendy Sherman and people like me; the one that Donald Trump walked out of. We will eventually return to a similar agreement, but we will pay a heavy price for it; when we should never have walked out of it in the first place."

Sullivan's comments come as international concerns about Iran's nuclear program have grown. According to a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), published by Bloomberg, citing Western officials, the risk of Iran secretly developing nuclear weapons has increased compared to a year ago.

The report states that Iran has nearly 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, a level that is only a few percentage points away from the enrichment required to make a nuclear weapon. Experts estimate that this amount of nuclear material is enough to produce about 10 atomic bombs. A significant part of these reserves is stored in underground facilities and tunnels in Isfahan, which, according to some sources, have not been seriously damaged by US air strikes.

The report also emphasizes that since June 2025, IAEA inspectors have not had access to Iran's nuclear facilities; Previously, these facilities were inspected weekly.

The agency has also warned that continued uncertainty about Iran's nuclear program could lead to a new nuclear arms race. According to this assessment, some US allies in different regions of the world are increasingly discussing the development of their nuclear capabilities, as doubts have arisen about the reliability of the US security umbrella.

In such circumstances, Jake Sullivan's statements about the need to return to a nuclear agreement similar to the JCPOA indicate the continued difference of views in Washington about the consequences of the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran and ways to curb the country's nuclear program.
Report: Abdulhaq Hamidi