Iran FM:

US declines to abide by commitments under JCPOA from very beginning

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the nuclear deal has been written on the basis of distrust, adding we did not expect the US to abide by its commitments under the deal at the time of negotiations.

News ID: 68505

Date: 06 February 2018 - 10:48

Speaking on the ‘Special News Talk Program’ on Channel 2 of Iranian state TV ‘IRIB TV2’ on Monday evening, Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran’s foreign policy and security is based on people’s votes, criticizing the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf region for their massive military expenditure.

Zarif later in his interview said that they in Iran’s Foreign Ministry have made changes that may have been the biggest structural change since the revolution in the structure of the Foreign Ministry, stating “the deputies for regional affairs have been removed and now we have a political and economic deputy and eight special assistants in line with the guidelines of the Resistance Economy.”

Regarding US violations of Iran’s nuclear deal with world power known as the JCPOA, Iranian foreign minister said that “the deal has been written on the basis of distrust,” as since the beginning, the Iranian negotiating team did not trust the US to abide by its commitments under the deal, adding that if Hilary Clinton had been elected, the US behavior would not have been very different when it comes to abiding by its regulations, though she would not have been opposed to the deal as much as Donald Trump.

In another part of his interview, Zarif asserted that Iran has attracted a huge amount of foreign investment and is able to sell its oil and receive its money, explaining that “we now sell more than 2.5 million barrels of oil.”

With regard to the banking relations after the implementation of the JCPOA, he said that some European banks do not dare to resume their banking relations with Iran because of the US sanctions, adding that the US unilateral sanctions before signing the nuclear deal are still in place.

Elsewhere in his remarks Zarif said that the nuclear deal is only about Iran’s nuclear issue and has nothing to do with other issues including the US sanctions prior to the deal.

Later in his remarks, Zarif said that Iran is one of the safest places for investment, adding the best investment is internal investment and the people are the main source of Iran’s security and independence.

In relation to the western countries pressures against Iran’s missile defense program, the foreign minister said “our country is a country that has been attacked before and the whole world has supported the aggressor [Iraq]. That's why nobody is in a moral and legal position to tell Iran what capabilities Iran has,” adding Iran has never attacked any country during the past 300 years.

He stressed that Iran is satisfied with its own territory and has never demanded to expand its territory, adding “Iran’s security is bound to the security of other countries.”

Regarding the construction of Iraq and Syria, zarif said “we have good opportunities in Iraq and Syria," adding “our engineering companies have been active in Iraq for many years, but because of the financial conditions that Iraq is suffering, some of our companies have not been paid yet by the Iraqi government yet.”

He emphasized that he will attend Iraq reconstruction conference in Kuwait later this month.

At the end his of remarks, Iranian foreign minister addressed the issue of Saudi Arabia’s enmity towards Iran, saying that Saudis have failed so far due to their wrong policies towards other countries in the region.

Zarif added that when you try to imprison a prime minister of another country in your own country to put him under pressure, and support the terrorist groups or give them money to destabilize other countries, you see that your policies have repercussions.

Referring to the dreadful situation of the Yemeni people, Iran foreign minister stated “Iran announced since the first day of the Yemeni crisis that we have a four-state solution; immediate ceasefire, humanitarian assistance, Yemeni-Yemeni dialogue and the formation of a comprehensive government,” adding that Iran still thinks that the same solution is still relevant.

Iran’s Zarif concluded that Iran strongly believes that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates should realize as soon as possible that their policy in the past three years towards Yemen has not yielded any results except for spreading hatred and killing.