Gharibabadi:

Now ball in US court to prove its commitment to intl. law

TEHRAN (Defapress) - Stating that the ball is now in the US court to prove its commitment to international law, Iran’s permanent representative to Vienna-based international organizations said that the US has to make tough political decisions.

News ID: 83439

Date: 11 June 2021 - 03:13

The United States has shown no determination towards removing its sanctions and returning to compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Kazem Gharibabadi said on late Wednesday.

“It remains to be seen whether the United States has the necessary determination and readiness to give up its addiction to use unilateral coercive measures, respect international law, fulfill its commitments to fully and effectively remove sanctions [against Tehran] and make the necessary tough decisions in this regard,” he added.

Referring to Iran’s countermeasures taken in response to US violations and as per a provision in the JCPOA regarding non-compliance of parties, Gharibabadi noted that Tehran’s move to suspend some of its commitments did not affect its cooperation with the IAEA.

“Even under such circumstances, the IAEA was able to verify and monitor what Iran had done in this regard, which was recognized as exceptional cooperation even during the coronavirus outbreak,” he underlined.

Gharibabadi also pointed to the Vienna talks on the possible revival of the JCPOA and the return of the US to full compliance, saying that Iran has robustly and purposefully attended in the talks that have brought together the remaining signatories to the deal.

“It is important that the efforts lead to adequate guarantees that all sanctions will be removed in a verifiable manner, and we are not once again faced with a critical situation resulting from the US exit from the agreement, abuse of the mechanisms in the JCPOA or violations of all obligations under it while Iran has been fully committed to the provisions of the JCPOA,” the highlighted.

The ball is now in the US court to prove it is committed to international law, he added, saying that Iran, for its part, has time and again stated that it will reverse its compensatory steps and will resume its nuclear commitments” after the other sides have implemented their commitments, in particular, the removal of sanctions completely, effectively and in a verifiable way.

Since April, representatives from Iran and the P4+1 group of countries have been holding talks in Vienna aimed at revitalizing the JCPOA and bringing the US back to compliance.

The US has sent a delegation to Vienna but it is not attending the JCPOA Joint Commission talks directly as Washington is no longer a party to the deal. It has, however, held separate talks with the other parties to the JCPOA.

The US, under former president Donald Trump, left the JCPOA in 2018 and returned the sanctions that had been lifted against Tehran as part of the agreement.

US President Joe Biden has said Washington is willing to return to the pact if Tehran first suspends its countermeasures taken in response to US violations and reimposition of sanctions.

Iran says the onus is on the US to revive the deal as it was Washington, not Tehran, that left the internationally recognized accord in defiance of global criticism.