President Joe Biden referred to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known as the Iran nuclear deal, as “JOPCA” at a Friday news conference.
Biden and Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga held a joint news conference in the White House Rose Garden, where the president made the gaffe, messing up the letters of the acronym.
“We are … pleased that Iran is continuing to … engage in direct discussions with us and with our partners on how we move forward and what is needed to allow us to move back into the JOPCA, so that we are a part of it again,” Biden said.
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“We should’ve never gotten out,” the president said about the agreement which former President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of in 2018.
Trump has previously dubbed the JCPOA “a horrible deal” because of its “sunset clause” which would enable Iran to resume its nuclear program after the lifting of the restrictions in 2025, according to BBC.
The Biden administration has been adamant about rejoining the agreement, touting its effectiveness. (RELATED: White House Convenes Top Level National Security Meeting To Debate Action On Iran)
“The time that it would take Iran – based on public reports, the time that it would take Iran to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon is down to, we think, a few months,” Secretary of State Tony Blinken said in February. “So that’s a real problem, and it’s a problem that could get more acute, because if Iran continues to lift some of these restraints imposed by the agreement, that could get down to a matter of weeks.”