Iranian Cleric Lauds Leader’s Letter on JCPOA

Delivering a speech to worshippers in Tehran on Friday, Ayatollah Seyed Ahmad Khatami said Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei’s recent letter to the administration about the JCPOA contained “historic, profound and perfect” points.

He said the letter demonstrates the Iranian nation’s stances on the July 14 nuclear deal, stressing that Ayatollah Khamenei has given “conditional” approval to the agreement.

Back on Wednesday, Imam Khamenei sent a letter to President Hassan Rouhani and highlighted nine main points that the administration will need to take note of regarding the course of implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a lasting nuclear deal between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

Elsewhere in his comments, Ayatollah Khatami echoed the points, mentioned in the letter, which would translate into the breach of the JCPOA.

Any assertion by the parties to the nuclear deal about keeping the structure of the anti-Iran sanctions in place will spell the breach of the JCPOA, the cleric noted.

He also made it clear that imposition of any new sanctions on Iran under the “worn-out” pretexts of support for terrorism or human rights violation will again be in contravention of the nuclear deal.

Tehran and the Group 5+1 (also known as P5+1 or E3+3) on July 14 reached a conclusion over the text of a comprehensive 159-page deal on Tehran's nuclear program.

The nuclear deal would terminate all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran after coming into force.