On Friday, an anonymous US official told Reuters that “who goes first” is “not the issue” when it comes to the United States and Iran reviving their 2015 nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA). This was a remarkable statement, because if it truly doesn’t matter who goes first, then it’s fair to ask why we’re now more than two months into the Biden administration and we still haven’t seen any progress toward patching up the agreement.

A recap may be in order. The Obama administration, working with a group of five other nations known as the P5+1 — the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) plus Germany — negotiated the JCPOA to contain Iran’s nuclear program. In exchange for broad sanctions relief, the Iranian government agreed to abide by strict limits on uranium enrichment and to permit the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to implement one of the most intrusive inspection programs ever devised.

The JCPOA worked — or, at least, from the Obama administration’s perspective. A succession of IAEA reports certified into late 2018 that Iran was complying with its obligations under the pact. At the same time, though, criticism grew that the Obama administration was not fulfilling its obligation to ensure that Iran enjoyed the full economic benefits the agreement had promised. It was not enough to simply lift sanctions — Washington had to convince nervous companies and banks that they could do business with and in Iran without fear that sanctions would suddenly be restored.