Prisoner Deal Could Smooth Effort to Contain Iran's Nuclear Program

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

69% : Iran may feel the same way, given Mr. Trump's possible return to the Oval Office.
57% : The announcement of a prisoner exchange deal between the United States and Iran could increase the prospects for further diplomatic cooperation, including the Biden administration's longstanding goal of containing Iran's nuclear program, according to officials and analysts.
54% : Mr. Rome said the Biden administration likely hopes that formal nuclear talks organized by the European Union could restart later this year.
52% : Defusing the slow-boiling crisis around Iran's nuclear program, which has expanded in recent years to put Tehran within reach of nuclear weapons capability, is an urgent priority for the Biden administration.
51% : But officials from several countries have described those discussions, and Iran appears to be adhering to an agreement.
51% : One of the Israeli officials added that while Iran has sent military assistance, including potent drones, to Russia since its invasion of Ukraine last year, Moscow would like more than it has received.
49% : Under the deal announced on Thursday, Iran will release five Iranian Americans from custody in return for the freeing of five Iranians jailed in the United States, along with the unfreezing of some $6 billion in Iranian assets for humanitarian purposes under strict monitoring.
48% : U.S. officials have repeatedly denied that they reached any nuclear "deal" with Iran after indirect talks held in Oman earlier this year.
48% : Iran accelerated its atomic program and has now stockpiled enough uranium enriched to near bomb-grade levels to make several nuclear bombs, although many analysts believe it could take Iran more than a year, possibly even two, to construct a workable nuclear device.
47% : Mr. Biden came into office hoping to negotiate a quick restoration of the nuclear deal, and U.S. and European officials spent more than a year negotiating with Tehran before the talks collapsed last summer.
45% : Iran has also tried to seized commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman in recent weeks.
44% : "The prisoner deal is a key step forward for Washington and Tehran's efforts to lower tensions as they eye a return to formal nuclear negotiations later this year," said Henry Rome, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
40% : Relations have been tense since then, as U.S. officials have warned Iran that enriching uranium to a purity level of 90 percent risks the most severe consequences -- effectively code for military action.
39% : While multiple flash points and deep-seated hostilities exist between Washington and Tehran, including Iranian threats to shipping traffic in the Persian Gulf and Iran's support for Russia's war in Ukraine, the success of a painstakingly negotiated prisoner agreement removes a severe problem from a relationship that is never far from military confrontation.
39% : At the same time, Iran has moved to de-escalate relations with Saudi Arabia, another of its main rivals, through a deal in March to restore diplomatic ties after a seven-year freeze.
39% : He also expressed concern that the Biden administration was striking de facto security agreements with Iran in secret.
35% : Some of them complained on Thursday that the deal to release the Americans, who U.S. officials say were held on phony charges, had rewarded Iran with billions of dollars for de facto hostage taking.
35% : The United States believes that Iran has sponsored recurring attacks on U.S. troops in the Middle East by Tehran's proxy forces.
31% : Still, many Iranians celebrated the prisoner deal on Thursday, hopeful that it might be a step toward a loosening of sanctions imposed on Iran after Mr. Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal.
24% : The deal comes as Iran and the United States appear to be observing an informal agreement under which Iran has limited its nuclear program and restrained proxy militias in Iraq and Syria to avoid harsh American reprisals.

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