Iran fully ready to restore past nuclear activities if JCPOA not fully preserved: AEOI

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says Tehran is totally prepared to resume its previous nuclear activities if the 2015 deal with the P5+1 group of countries is not fully preserved.

“We can say that we have everything in order if we want to go back to the activities we had before,” Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the AEOI, said in a Press TV interview, part of which was released on Wednesday.   

“To analyze what the [US President Donald] Trump administration has done, it is something for international politicians to judge, because it is something against the international law and of course it is something that is going to damage the reputation and credibility of the government of the United States,” he added.

Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the nuclear agreement, which was reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the US, Britain, France, Russia and China -- plus Germany in July 2015.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Kamalvandi stressed that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was the only international body entrusted with verifying Iran’s compliance with its obligations under the deal.

"If there is any judgment, it should come through the agency not any other entity with regards to issues related to Iran’s commitments," he said, noting, “Based on the (IAEA) reports, Iran has complied with its commitments.”

Iran has said it would remain in the nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), for now, pending negotiations with the other signatories in the coming weeks before making a final decision on its future role in the agreement. 

Following Trump’s decision, Iranian lawmakers introduced a motion that calls for "proportional and reciprocal" action by the government.  

MP Mojtaba Zonnour, who heads the nuclear committee in parliament, said on May 9 that the motion asks President Hassan Rouhani's administration to secure "necessary guarantees" from the remaining signatories.

PressTV-Iran parliament condemns US withdrawal from JCPOA

The Iranian Parliament issues a statement denouncing the US exit from the landmark nuclear deal.

If the guarantees by Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China are not provided, Iran should resume high-level uranium enrichment, the lawmaker from the holy city of Qom said.

Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said on the same day the motion was introduced that the AEOI needed to have full readiness to resume all the country’s nuclear activities and take countermeasures following Foreign Ministry's talks with Europe on the fate of the deal.

After Trump's decision, President Rouhani instructed the Foreign Ministry to negotiate with European countries, Russia, and China in the following weeks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif embarked on a tour that took him to China, Russia and Europe to hold talks on the JCPOA.

Other signatories to the Iran deal have reaffirmed their commitment to the JCPOA, promising to work towards maintaining the landmark agreement.   

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