Iran’s Options Make It Costly to Scrap JCPOA

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iran remains fully committed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, also stressing that the country’s “infinite options” would make it costly for other parties, the US in particular, to withdraw from the multilateral accord.

News ID: 65676

Date: 21 August 2017 - 18:53

"The JCPOA is not a bilateral deal. The JCPOA has been endorsed by the international community. The situation is not such that the United States could decide to pull out of the deal. Iran’s choices make it costly for all parties to withdraw from the JCPOA,” Zarif said at a television talk show on Sunday night.

He further said that the nuclear agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) has been founded upon the "mistrust” of the parties, particularly Iran’s distrust of the US.

Tehran has reminded the other side of the "multiple options” it has to regain the capabilities of the pre-JCPOA era, the Iranian top diplomat said.

While remaining committed to the JCPOA, Iran is ready to present "infinite options” in reaction to US measures, Zarif added, saying a number of Iran’s major foreign contracts, such as the ones with Total and Renault, came amid the peak of the new US administration’s anti-Iran rhetoric.

Earlier on Sunday, President Hassan Rouhani called for decisive diplomatic action to foil US attempts at scrapping the JCPOA, saying the Foreign Ministry’s main task in his second term would be safeguarding the nuclear agreement.

Iran and the Group 5+1 signed the JCPOA in July 2015. The accord took effect in January 2016 and was supposed to terminate all nuclear-related sanctions against Iran all at once, but its implementation has been hampered mainly due to US policies.