“Compliance” has to be in quotes because Iran was never actually in compliance. But compliance was at least the fig leaf on the deal.

In his big softball interview, Biden assured Americans that the fig leaf was still on. 

“Will the U.S. lift sanctions first in order to get Iran back to the negotiating table?” host Norah O’Donnell asked.

“No,” Biden said.

Did anyone seriously think that a candidate funded by the Iran Lobby who had proposed giving Iran a $200 million check after 9/11 is going to stick to that? Nah.

The United States is weighing a wide array of ideas on how to revive the Iranian nuclear deal, including an option where both sides would take small steps short of full compliance to buy time, said three sources familiar with the matter.

This option could entail Washington allowing Tehran to get economic benefits less valuable than the sanctions relief it received under the 2015 deal in return for Iran stopping, or perhaps reversing, its own breaches of the agreement.

The sources stressed U.S. President Joe Biden has yet to decide his policy. His stated position remains that Iran resume full compliance with the pact before the United States will.

His stated position is in contradiction with the ideas behind pushed behind the scenes. If Biden’s stated position were solid, that would not be the case. But Biden was part of an administration that violated rules on sending money to Iran by trying to get around them by using foreign currency. When relief kicks in, we’ll be told that it’s a gesture and that it doesn’t actually contradict the lies that Biden told us.