TEHRAN — Jake Sullivan, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for national security adviser, has voiced guarded optimism for restoring the Iran nuclear pact.

Speaking on Monday at the Wall Street Journal CEO Summit, Sullivan emphasized that any progress toward preserving or even enhancing the deal forged during the Obama administration would depend on international cooperation.

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear agreement on May 8, 2018. He then implemented a “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran to press it to negotiate a new deal.

“We are in a dangerous situation,” Sullivan said, according to Bloomberg.

“They have enriched more uranium,” he said, making an implicit reference to a decades-long claim by Western powers that Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons.

“We just walked away, we’re alone,” Sullivan said.

He added that Biden’s goal was to get Iran “to come back into compliance,” with the agreement, the product of lengthy negotiations between the Tehran government and six world powers, a move that would put Iran’s “program back in a box.”

MH/PA