BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 5. Iran has always followed a policy that prohibits the production, stockpiling, and use of nuclear weapons, said Mohsen Naziri Asl, the represantative of Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN Office at Geneva(UNOG), Trend reports.
Adressing the meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Board of Governors on “Monitoring Iran under UN Security Council Resolution 2231,” Naziri Asl stated that Iran believes that weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, pose a threat to international peace and security.
He emphasized that Iran's strategy of not acquiring nuclear weapons is absolutely clear. In this regard, Iran held talks with the P5+1 group (US, UK, Russia, France, China and Germany) that led to the conclusion of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the implementation of the deal.
Under this agreement, it was guaranteed that Iran’s nuclear program would remain exclusively peaceful, and sanctions imposed by the United Nations and the US would be lifted. However, after the US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement, sanctions were re-imposed on Iran. Due to the failure of other parties to fulfill their obligations, Iran stopped implementing its commitments under the agreement.
The Iranian official noted that UN Security Council Resolution 2231 prohibits the imposition of new sanctions on Iran while the JCPOA is in effect. However, during this period, some countries imposed additional sanctions on Iran.
"Sanctions and restrictive measures make it difficult for Iran to conduct normal trade and weaken the successful implementation of the JCPOA," he said.
On January 16, 2016, the JCPOA came into force between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, the UK, France, and Germany) regarding Iran’s nuclear program. However, on May 8, 2018, the US withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and the 5+1 group (Russia, China, the UK, France, the US, and Germany) and imposed new sanctions on Iran starting from November 2018.
By the end of 2020, the Iranian parliament decided to pursue a strategic plan in the nuclear sector to counter the sanctions, leading to a suspension of additional steps and the Additional Protocol as per the nuclear agreement.
Consequently, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) faced a reduction in monitoring capabilities by 20–30 percent.
Iran has officially affirmed that its strategy is not to pursue the development of an atomic bomb and that it does not support the production of weapons of mass destruction.
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