Iran to Continue JCPOA without US If National Interests Met: President Rouhani
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani highlighted the importance of 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and said the Islamic Republic will continue to stay in the deal without the US if Tehran’s interests are met.
Speaking at a joint press conference with his Austrian counterpart, Alexander Van der Bellen, in Vienna on Wednesday, President Rouhani described the JCPOA as “a very important deal” for Iran, the European Union and the world.
He further pointed to US move to withdraw from the JCPOA and said, “The US action is against the law, the UN Security Council's resolutions, and multilateral commitments, and will undoubtedly be to the detriment of the US and others.”
“The decision adopted by the US has not been in the interest of anyone,” he said, adding, “This is a strange decision that an administration takes against its own national interests…”
Iran will protect the JCPOA if the country can completely use the deal’s benefits, the president noted.
If other signatories to the agreement be able to ensure the interests of Iran, the country will continue to stay in the deal without the US, he went on to say.
The Austrian president, for his part, expressed his country’s sorrow over Washington’s move to walk away from the JCPOA and said the US sanctions against the Islamic Republic, which will also target Austria, are in violation of human rights.
Rouhani arrived in Vienna on Tuesday on the second leg of his tour of Europe, which had already taken him to Switzerland.
The Iranian president has enhanced political contacts with foreign leaders on the ways to save the JCPOA after the US exit.
On May 8, the US president pulled his country out of the JCPOA, which was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Following the US exit, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has underlined that any decision to keep the JCPOA running without the US should be conditional on “practical guarantees” from the Europeans.