Deputy FM: Iran to Dismantle Nothing in Nuclear Program

Speaking to reporters here in Tehran on Tuesday, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyed Abbas Araqchi dismissed speculation about details of the final step in the Joint Plan of Action, a nuclear deal reached between Tehran and the major world powers last November.

He once again dismissed distorted interpretations of the Geneva nuclear deal, and asserted that Iran will never dismantle anything in its nuclear program.

On November 24, 2013, Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) signed a six-month deal on Tehran’s nuclear program in Geneva after several rounds of tight negotiations.

Based on the interim deal (the Joint Plan of Action), the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran's decision to freeze parts of its nuclear activities and to allow more inspection of its nuclear facilities.

However, a White House fact sheet issued in November after the initial agreement put a biased interpretation on the Geneva deal, saying Iran should "dismantle the technical connections required to enrich (uranium) above 5%."

In relevant remarks on January 22, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also insisted that the Obama administration mischaracterizes Tehran’s commitments in the six-month nuclear deal, and said Iran ”did not agree to dismantle anything."

Zarif stressed in an interview with CNN that the terminology used by the White House to describe the agreement differed from the text agreed to by Iran and the other countries in the talks.

"The White House version both underplays the concessions and overplays Iranian commitments" under the agreement that took effect on January 20, Zarif said in Davos, Switzerland, where he was attending the World Economic Forum.

"The White House tries to portray it as basically a dismantling of Iran's nuclear program. That is the word they use time and again," the Iranian minister said.

Urging reference to the actual text of the Geneva agreement, the top Iranian diplomat further emphasized, "If you find a single, a single word, that even closely resembles dismantling or could be defined as dismantling in the entire text, then I would take back my comment."