Iran fires back at US Blinken's first remarks

TEHRAN (Defapress) - Spokesperson for the Iranian Mission to the UN Alireza Miryousefi has reacted to Antony Blinken's first official remarks on US President Joe Biden's approach to Iran nuclear deal.

News ID: 82953

Date: 28 January 2021 - 16:52

In a statement recently delivered to Newsweek, Iranian permanent mission to the United Nations spokesperson Alireza Miryousefi to Secretary of State Antony Blinken's first official remarks on President Joe Biden's approach to tensions between Tehran and Washington rooted in the latter's exit under the previous administration from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran.

Miryousefi noted that the US had not only broken commitments to the nuclear deal, but also to the United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 that supported it.

"The current US Administration, as its predecessor, is in violation of its commitments based on JCPOA and UNSC resolution 2231," Miryousefi said.

He referenced recent statements by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and permanent representative to the UN Majid Takht-Ravanchi, who both urged the Biden administration to reverse course ahead of Blinken's comments.

"As FM Zarif and Amb. Ravanchi reiterated in their recent op-ed, we have always maintained that the US, as the party that violated not just the JCPOA but also UNSCR 2231—in violation of international law—should comply with both and lift the sanctions it has imposed," the Iranian diplomat said.

"Iran is not 'in violation' of the accord, it has merely triggered Paragraph 36 which allows Iran to take remedial actions in the face of continued non-compliance by other parties," he told Newsweek.

In stark violation of the nuclear deal, the Trump administration unilaterally and unlawfully pulled back from the international deal with Tehran and started the so-called Maximum Pressure Campaign in the form of imposing unprecedented economic sanctions on the Iranian nation on May 8, 2018.

In response, Iran took gradual steps away from the deal in accordance with the content of the deal while it has stated that it will reverse the steps as soon as Washington lifts the sanctions and returns to the path of law.