President Rouhani Raps Lack of Commitment to JCPOA
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani complained about the Group 5+1’s negligence in honoring commitments under a lasting nuclear deal with Tehran, saying such obstructive conduct has eroded Iran’s trust.
Addressing the nation in a televised address on Tuesday night, President Rouhani admitted that there has been failure on part of the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) to implement the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
If the other side remained committed to protecting the spirit of the JCPOA, the situation would be much better, he added, deploring the obstructive measures in carrying out the nuclear deal.
The president also described the JCPOA as a litmus test for US reliability, saying Iran would have agreed to negotiate with the US on the other issues if Washington had implemented the JCPOA with goodwill and there had been no procrastination.
As regards the outstanding problems after coming into force of the JCPOA, President Rouhani pointed to the sluggish process of presence and activity of major banks in Iran.
Iran and the six countries on July 14, 2015, reached a conclusion over the text of the JCPOA after some two years of diplomatic talks.
The 159-page accord took effect in January 2016 and was supposed to terminate the nuclear-related sanctions against Iran all at once, but its implementation has been hampered mainly due to US policies.
Back on Monday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said the JCPOA provided another example confirming that the US is unreliable.
Enumerating cases of the US breach of the deal, the Leader said the cruel anti-Iran sanctions were supposed to be terminated all at once, but Washington is now talking about gradual easing of sanctions.
The experience of JCPOA made it clear that negotiation with the US on other regional issues would be a “lethal poison”, the Leader underscored, saying one could not trust the US on any issue.