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With a likely embrace of more pragmatic policies toward Tehran, a Biden presidency could ease US-Iran tensions by moving bilateral relations in a more stable direction with a reduction, albeit not a total elimination, in Washington's pressure on the Islamic Republic. Although impossible to predict how Biden would conduct foreign policy if elected, his record as Barack Obama's VP and as a US Senator since the 1970s can help inform observers of what style of leadership Biden might bring to the international stage.

Like Obama, Biden has favoured a "liberal internationalist" agenda on the world stage. Although no dove, he has on many occasions favoured diplomacy and strong US support for international engagement and multilateral institutions--a contrast to Trump's foreign policy defined by bold unilateral moves such as withdrawing the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the World Health Organisation, and the Paris Climate Agreement. In his Iran policy, Biden may be more sensitive to the interests of NATO members such as France, Germany, and Turkey, which supported the JCPOA and regretted the US' decision to withdraw from the agreement in May 2018. Some analysts maintain that a Biden win in November could even put a US return to the JCPOA on the table.

A Biden presidency's Iran policy would likely be more predictable and coherent than the current administration.

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