Zarif Reiterates Iran’s Objection to Renegotiating JCPOA
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif once again expressed the country’s objection to the idea of renegotiating the landmark Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Speaking in an interview with NBC News on Friday, Zarif, who is in Germany to attend the 55th Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2019, Zarif said renegotiating the deal is out of the question.
US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington in May from the Iran nuclear agreement, reached between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France, and Germany) in 2015, and decided to re-impose unilateral sanctions against Tehran.
Under the deal, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions.
After the US withdrawal, the remaining parties have launched efforts to preserve the deal.
US Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday urged Washington’s European allies to withdraw from the JCPOA and accused them of trying to break US sanctions against Tehran.
"Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative. In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions," Pence said.
Elsewhere in the interview with NBC News, Zarif warned the United States and its allies that it would be “suicidal” to go to a war with Iran.
made the remarks when asked if there would be a war between Iran, the US and Israel.
He said the “same gang” behind the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 were “at it again” in pushing for war with Iran.
“I'm not saying Trump's administration, I'm saying people in President Trump’s administration are trying to create the same eventually, and I believe they will fail,” the Iranian foreign minister said.
“But I think at the end of the day, some sense will prevail and people will find out that it’s suicidal to engage in a war with Iran.”
The United States, under former President George W. Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, claiming that the then-Iraqi regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were ever found. President Bush later called his decision to order the invasion of Iraq “an emotional one.”
Bush’s successor, former President Barack Obama, officially ended the occupation of the Arab country in 2011.
The top Iranian diplomat further said Washington has a “pathological obsession” with Tehran and added, “Iran is different from other countries. The United States is used to dealing with countries that rely on outside as their source of legitimacy (and) as their source of strength.”
However, he emphasized, Iran has survived for 40 years in spite of the US pressure and not with its support.