US Must Continue to Implement JCPOA

"As the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has not come by easily, all relevant parties should cherish it," Chinese Foreign Minister Lu Kan said on Saturday.

The Chinese foreign minister's remarks came in response to US President Donald Trump’s announcement on Friday that he would reintroduce sanctions on Iran if a new nuclear deal is not negotiated within the next four months.

Lu stressed that China “always firmly supports” the deal and considers it an important multilateral achievement that serves a prime example of how international issues can be resolved by diplomatic and political means.

In a thinly-veiled criticism of the new round of sanctions recently imposed by Washington on Iranian entities, Lu said that China is opposed to “unilateral sanctions imposed by relevant countries on other countries in accordance with their domestic law.”

Last week, the US slapped sanctions on five Iran-based companies that Washington believes are involved in the country’s ballistic missile program.

Washington’s apparent plan to wreck the deal was also chastised by Moscow, which warned that the US is on course for a major foreign policy blow if Trump follows through on his pledge, calling the spate of US sanctions “chaos and madness.”