JCPOA under ‘intensive care,’ Europe must endeavor to save it: Araqchi
Iran's deputy foreign minister for political affairs says the 2015 nuclear deal with major powers is in conditions resembling an “intensive care” unit, adding that the European signatories to the deal must scramble to save the accord.
Talking to the Dutch NRC website, Abbas Araqchi said the country had paid its dues as it is contractually required to under the agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), adding, “Now, it is the other JCPOA parties’ turn to do the same.”
“We accepted to limit our nuclear program [under the JCPOA], but were made a target of the United States’ maximum pressure [campaign] in return. In such circumstances, the JCPOA’s other partners are bound to think up practical approaches to extricate Iran from the sanctions,” the official noted.
European countries, he added, claim they seek to save the agreement, but so far, they have actually shown that they are either incapable or disinclined to resist the US dominance over Europe’s financial system to protect it.
The deal between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group of states -- the United States, the UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany -- sanctions against Iran, which voluntarily changed some aspects of its nuclear energy program.
The United States, however, left the deal last May in a move that flew in the face of the agreement’s multi-party nature, and the fact that the accord has been ratified in the form of a UN Security Council resolution. The US also returned its sanctions against Iran, and the European deal partners fell into line with the American bans by abandoning their business commitments to Tehran.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Araqchi said the recent developments concerning the nuclear accord had taught Iran, inter alia, that “the result of this agreement and commitment to it [for Iran] has been coming under new sanctions.”
“Should things continue to proceed like this, we too may be forced to change our approach,” he stated.
This May, Iran began reducing its JCPOA commitments under a step-by-step schedule in reaction to the US’s withdrawal and the European side’s failure to honor their side of the deal.
The Islamic Republic has repeatedly asserted that it would roll back all the retaliatory steps it has taken once the European countries begin meeting Iran’s business interests as the deal demands them.
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