Iran to Resume Nuclear Activities if US Exits JCPOA: Envoy
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s ambassador to London highlighted Tehran’s readiness to resume uranium enrichment and other nuclear activities in case of a possible US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
"The consequence (of US exit from the nuclear agreement) would be that Iran would in fact be ready to go back to the previous situation," Hamid Baeidinejad told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in London on Wednesday.
If the United States pulls out of the agreement, "it means that there is no deal left," he underscored.
As regards the nuclear activities that Iran could restart, the envoy said, "It could be enriching uranium, it could be redefining our cooperation with the agency (IAEA), and some other activities that are under consideration."
He also dismissed the idea of renegotiating or revising the 2015 nuclear deal, saying, "JCPOA was negotiated on its own merits, and still it's working and it should be continued to be enforced."
It is "totally unacceptable" for the deal's implementation to be conditional on new agreements, Baeidinejad stressed.
The envoy further rejected the recent allegations that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has raised against Iran’s nuclear program, saying the International Atomic Energy Agency itself is monitoring Iran.
"There have been some allegations against conducting of such (suspicious nuclear) activities in Iran, but never was there ever any proof presented to Iran," he said.
"The board of governors of IAEA closed this file permanently. So that was based on the realities on the ground," the envoy concluded.
He also touched on the policy of Europeans towards the JCPOA and their reaction to US attempts for scrapping the nuclear deal, saying Europeans are only "giving him (Trump) more concessions."
The reality is that they have not been able to convince the American president, he said.
"We should be very clear to the United States that we have a deal, that we want to stay in the deal, and this deal should be effectively implemented," the ambassador stressed.
US President Donald 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.
Since the historic deal was signed by Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) in Vienna in July 2015, the IAEA has repeatedly confirmed the Islamic Republic’s compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA, but some other parties, especially the US, have failed to live up to their undertakings.
