Iranian Deputy FM Shrugs Off Trump’s Threats against JCPOA
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi said US President Donald Trump’s threats against the 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), are empty.
Speaking to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) on Saturday night, Araqchi pointed to Trump’s recent comments about JCPOA and said it is more than a year that Trump has made every effort to destroy the nuclear deal or at least modify it but all of his efforts have ended in failure.
“His recent threat was not something new at all,” he said, adding that two months ago when Trump referred the JCPOA to the US Congress, he had threatened that he would terminate the agreement if the Congress fails to reach a conclusion over the deal but that never happened.
The Iranian diplomat further pointed to the European Union’s support for the JCPOA and said back in October when Trump commented against the deal, EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini voiced her support for the deal.
The remarks came after Trump again waived sanctions against Iran that were lifted as part of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, but threatened he would terminate the agreement if “significant flaws” in it are not fixed.
“Today, I am waiving the application of certain nuclear sanctions, but only in order to secure our European allies’ agreement to fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal,” Trump said in a statement Friday.
“This is a last chance. In the absence of such an agreement, the United States will not again waive sanctions in order to stay in the Iran nuclear deal. And if at any time I judge that such an agreement is not within reach, I will withdraw from the deal immediately. No one should doubt my word.”
In October, Trump said he would not certify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement that was negotiated under the previous administration because it was “in violation of the spirit” of the accord.
The Trump administration asked Congress then to come up with and pass a companion agreement that addresses those issues.
It said it would also like Congress to amend the legislation that gives lawmakers the authority to slap sanctions on Iran if it decides Tehran is in violation of the nuclear agreement, outlining “trigger points” instead that set off automatic sanctions.
Trump said he wants Congress to fix “the deal’s many flaws” such as existing sunset provisions.