Three months.
That timeline gave Iran to the United States to lift the illegal unilateral sanctions imposed by President Trump.
If the sanctions are not lifted, Iran will stop cooperating with IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspectors.
Recall that in 2015, Iran reached an agreement on control over its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions.
This agreement is called the nuclear deal.
Russia, China, the United States, Britain, France (that is, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council), Germany and Iran became parties to the agreement.
Israel remained extremely dissatisfied with the deal, and when President Trump came to power in Washington (somewhat naively believing that by giving Israel whatever it wanted, he would win the hearts of American Jews and stay in the White House, despite the hatred of the establishment), he left agreements and imposed sanctions on Iran.
Democrats, then in opposition, objected to the withdrawal from the deal, and Biden said he would return the United States to the agreement after winning.
But, having won, he said that without Israel's consent he would not reverse Trump's decision, unless Iran would agree to renegotiate the agreement and place its missile program under international (read: American) control, and also stop participating in the wars in Syria and Yemen.
Iran declined further discussion, but agreed to hold an informal meeting with the parties to the deal and with the United States.
Meanwhile, an important event took place.
Unknown terrorists (there are versions about the involvement of Israeli or American special services) killed the leading Iranian atomic scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
This caused huge outrage in Iran, and the harder line passed a law in parliament to prohibit IAEA inspectors from entering nuclear production.
The law went into effect this week.
If earlier inspectors could track what was happening by studying footage captured by cameras installed at nuclear production, now Iran has stopped sending them the filmed films.
They will be stored for three months, and if the sanctions are not lifted, the films will be erased.
At the same time, sudden visits of IAEA inspectors were stopped.
Such is the compromise agreement reached at the last moment between the IAEA and the Iranian leadership, which is dominated by supporters of a softer line.
The head of the IAEA said he was happy with the agreement;
details of the agreement have not yet been released.
Hardliners in the Iranian parliament were outraged by the authorities' compliance.
The dispute between the two directions in the Iranian leadership continues, but so far the agreement holds.
In three months, if Biden does not go along, the deal will be undermined, which suits both Israel (and its friends in Washington) and the hardliners in Tehran.
Ali Khamenei, the supreme ruler of Iran (successor to Ayatollah Khomeini in this post, the former president of the country), is flexible.
He, on the one hand, supports the nuclear deal and holds back the hardliners, and on the other hand, he announced this week that Iran will increase its uranium purification rate from 20 to 60%.
And there already 90% of weapons-grade uranium is not far away, they say in Europe.
Now in Iran there are about 500 centrifuges, and in March their number will double, and at the expense of newer and more advanced devices.
But Khamenei adds every time that Iran does not want to create an atomic bomb, and all these nuclear experiments are part of the peace program.
He does not forget to remind the Iranians that in case of withdrawal from the deal, Iran could find itself in international isolation.
And the fact that sanctions are spoiling the lives of Iranians need not be reminded.
They themselves remember this.
Last week, the Americans intercepted another tanker with Iranian oil and sold it at auction.
That is, the United States is practically waging a hybrid war against Iran.
The Americans are also at war with Russia and China in a hybrid manner, but not so actively.
Russia can still buy something and sell something on international markets - and it can get money.
Iran has to sell its own oil under the counter and accept payments almost in cash.
Russia and China sympathize with Iran, conduct trade with it, open transport corridors, receive Iranian ministers, but Moscow and Beijing are unable to completely protect Iran from the wrath of Washington.
Russia is playing a long game in the belief that the American empire is weakening.
As the hero of the story "The Old Man and the Sea", Putin has been fighting the giant ocean fish America for 20 years, but he avoids direct conflict, as well as complete submission.
And huge China is also trying not to sharply conflict with the United States, especially over Iran.
So the Iranians have to rely on their own strength, and they are limited.
Iran is also opposed by two US allies in the region - Israel and Saudi Arabia.
And there is a gap here.
The leaders of these two countries passionately kissed Donald Trump, and now Joe Biden looks at them sideways and disapprovingly.
Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for the first time just this week, which Israel took as a signal of disfavor.
Elections are soon in Israel, and it is not clear who will win.
Almost any other Israeli prime minister will be less motivated to fight Tehran: the anti-Iranian card is Bibi Netanyahu's favorite in the deck.
And MBS, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, is also not in favor in Washington.
So Biden has some leeway.
Will he take the opportunity to reconcile with Iran?
Perhaps, but not for sure.
And time, three months, is running out.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.