Iran Urges US, Europe to Return to JCPOA

“We advise the Americans against the wrong and incorrect path they have taken, and remind the Europeans that their inaction on the JCPOA has been wrong, and urge both of them to return to their commitments and obligations,” Rouhani said in a cabinet session on Wednesday.

The president also emphasized that honoring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will be in the interest of all parties, the region, law, international institutions, and nuclear non-proliferation.

Compliance with the JCPOA is the shortest way to achieve the common interests, he added.

The president also decried the new US sanctions against Iran, saying the White House has been thrown into confusion as its officials are making “inappropriate and ridiculous” comments and adopting the policy of disgrace.

It has become clear that the potential of US sanctions against Iran has been exhausted, the president said, adding that the fresh sanctions on top Iranian authorities, including the office of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, reveal that the US government has no understanding of religious issues.

Rouhani further lashed out at the US president for sending Iran a message through Japan and at the same time imposing sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical industry, saying such a move goes counter to political norms, morality, and collective wisdom.

The Iranian president said he has been told by many world leaders that Trump’s stances have only domestic use.

He then questioned the US president’s fake concerns about nuclear weapons, asking why he has remained silent on the stockpile of nuclear weapons in the Israeli regime’s possession.

The president further highlighted Iran’s success in shooting down an intruding US spy drone at an altitude of 50,000 feet, saying the aircraft was brought down by a homegrown air defense system after it violated Iranian airspace and ignored two warnings.

“We do not favor war or tension in the region, but at the same time, we won’t let our country be invaded,” Rouhani said, stressing that the borders are Iran’s redline.

The IRGC Aerospace Force shot down a US unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that intruded into the airspace of Iran on June 20.

The IRGC said the ‘Global Hawk’ spy drone had taken off from a US military base in south of the Persian Gulf, switched off all of its communication systems, and flew towards the port city of Chabahar via the Strait of Hormuz in maximum stealth.

When flying back to the western part of the region, the unmanned plane violated the Iranian airspace near the Strait of Hormuz and began to spy on Iran and collect information, the statement added.

IRGC Chief Major General Hossein Salami said later that the shooting down of the US drone had a straightforward message that any foreign intrusion into Iran’s sovereign territories would draw a crushing response.

“The downing of the US drone had an explicit, decisive and clear message that defenders of the Islamic Iran’s borders will show decisive and knockout reactions to aggression against this territory by any alien,” he added.

“Borders are our redline, and any enemy violating these borders will not go back,” Salami underlined.