News / Politics / Nuclear Energy

Iran rejects US threat to invoke JCPAO’s snapback mechanism to reinstate UN sanctions

Wednesday, 18 December 2019 3:47 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 18 December 2019 4:12 PM ]

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (Photo by IRNA)

Iran rejects as “shameless” the US claim that it can invoke a mechanism in the 2015 nuclear deal to reinstate UN sanctions on Tehran, arguing Washington ceased participation in the accord last year.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif rejected the US claim that it could use a snapback mechanism to trigger sanctions against Iran because it is a participant in the agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), saying President Donald Trump walked away from the pact last year.

Taking unprecedented step of punishing those who seek to COMPLY with UN Security Council isn't enough for this @statedept.

Now it claims that US can use snapback bec it's a JCPOA participant.

NEWS FLASH:@realdonaldtrump explicitly long ago "ceased US participation." Shameless. pic.twitter.com/l1JKMtPTNs
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) December 18, 2019

The top Iranian diplomat said it did not suffice the US to punish those seeking to comply with the JCPOA, and now it was resorting to other unprecedented measures to advance its agenda.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled his country out of the JCPOA signed between Iran and major world powers in 2015, in defiance of global criticism, and later re-imposed the sanctions that had been lifted against Tehran as part of the agreement.

European members since last month have begun raising the possibility of triggering the JCPOA’s “dispute resolution mechanism,” which is also known as the trigger mechanism, and whose activation can lead to the return of the UN sanctions on Iran.

‘Europeans will not activate JCPOA trigger mechanism for now’

Iran's deputy foreign minister says despite their recent threat to activate the trigger mechanism in the nuclear accord with Iran, European countries will not do so for the time being.

Recent threats to activate the trigger mechanism envisaged in the JCPOA were brought up after the Iranian government took a series of steps in reducing its commitments under the deal in response to the US measures and the Europeans’ failure to keep their end of the bargain in protecting Iran’s economic benefits in the agreement.

Iran has so far rowed back on its nuclear commitments four times in compliance with Articles 26 and 36 of the JCPOA, but stressed that its retaliatory measures will be reversible as soon as the European signatories — France, Britain and Germany — find practical ways to shield mutual trade from the US sanctions.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk