Iran’s Zarif Questions Pompeo’s U-Turn on JCPOA
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif slammed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for his dubious remarks on the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“On 4/12, Pompeo testified no need to worry about nixing JCPOA as Iran ‘not racing to a weapon before the deal’, nor would ‘turn to race to...weapon’ after. Now says ‘time to revisit question of whether Iran can be trusted to enrich…any nuclear material’. So, which one is it?” Zarif said on his twitter account on Tuesday.
Speaking to journalists alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while visiting Tel Aviv on Sunday, Pompeo said US President Donald Trump had "directed the administration to try and fix" the JCPOA. Should that prove impossible, Pompeo said Trump was "going to withdraw from the deal."
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) reached the 159-page nuclear agreement in July 2015 and started to implement it in January 2016.
Ever since the deal took effect, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA in all quarterly reports, but some other parties, especially the US, have failed to live up to their undertakings.
Trump in January set a 120-day deadline for US lawmakers and European allies to “fix” his predecessor Barack Obama’s main foreign policy achievement or face a US exit.
