Iran's parliament is considering a new law that would ban the government from conducting any negotiations with the United States, signaling that Tehran is moving even further from the West in the wake of Ebrahim Raisi's election last week.
The measure "banning any negotiations between Iranian and American authorities" was presented on Wednesday to the Iranian parliament's presiding board, according to Iran's state-controlled press, which did not provide further details on the legislation.
The law marks another setback for the Biden administration as it engages in negotiations with Iran aimed at reentering the 2015 nuclear accord. Iranian leaders have already said they will abandon talks in the near future if the United States does not lift all economic sanctions on the country, even those that were applied outside of the nuclear agreement, such as for terrorism-related infractions.
With Raisi now in power, the country has taken a radical shift, with the hardline president-elect saying in his first public address that he will not meet with President Joe Biden or agree to talks about Tehran's contested ballistic missile program, which includes weapons capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Raisi's refusal to discuss the issue sets up yet another roadblock for the Biden administration, which is hoping to negotiate a new, more stringent nuclear deal after it finishes up talks on reentering the original accord.