Baku, Azerbaijan, April 20
By Farhad Daneshvar – Trend:
A senior Iranian diplomat has implicitly warned that Tehran may walk away from the 2015 nuclear deal, blaming the US administration over its approach to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA aka nuclear deal).
“It is a wrong interpretation that some people assume Iran will remain committed to the nuclear deal under all the [unfavorable] circumstances,” IRNA news agency quoted Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as saying at a meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide in the European country on April 20.
The Iranian diplomat warned that the approach of the US President Donald Trump’s administration to the JCPOA has put the fate of the historic pact at risk.
“Any attempts aimed at linking the JCPOA with other topics are driven by wrong approaches which make the regional issues more complicated,” he added.
Earlier on April 18 Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also said that a possible decision by the US on pulling out from the 2015 nuclear deal would draw an unpleasant reaction from Iran and the international community.
Back in March, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived in Tehran as part of a European drive to salvage the nuclear deal with Iran that President Donald Trump is threatening to scuttle. On May 12, Donald Trump is expected to decide whether to continue waiving sanctions under a US law.
So far, Iran has adhered to the terms of the nuclear deal, as verified by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in 10 reports since the pact was implemented in January 2016.
But the economic benefits Iran is receiving in return have fallen short of expectations, even after energy and financial sanctions were lifted. Major banks and companies have avoided engaging with Iran from fear of running afoul of remaining US restrictions or seeing a “snapback” of sanctions given Trump’s threats.
Trump has told the Europeans that they must agree to “fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal” or he would re-impose the sanctions that Washington lifted as part of the pact.