Iran to Ratify Additional Protocol If US Congress Endorses JCPOA: Rouhani
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the country is ready to pursue ratification of the Additional Protocol in the parliament provided that the US Congress endorses the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and lifts all anti-Tehran sanctions.
Iran does not seek to deviate from nuclear regulations, the president said on Wednesday, speaking with US foreign policy analysts and experts in New York.
“If the US Congress ratifies the JCPOA and lifts all sanctions permanently, Iran is ready to pursue the immediate ratification of the Additional Protocol in the Iranian parliament as a permanent law,” he said, referring to the nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
He stressed that the JCPOA was the best agreement that could be reached, adding that in its reports, the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly confirmed Iran’s compliance with its obligations under the accord.
The president further underlined that the US will not achieve its objectives with its inhumane sanctions against Iran and that there is complete unanimity in Iran about that.
In his address to the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly earlier on Wednesday, Rouhani hit out at the US for inviting Iran to talks while imposing harsh sanctions against the country.
“We cannot believe (the sincerity of) an invitation to negotiation by those who (claim to) have applied the harshest sanctions of history against the dignity and livelihood of our nation,” Rouhani said, adding that astonishingly "(committing) crimes and (imposing) pressure on the lives of 83 million Iranians, especially women and children, are welcomed by and have become a source of pride for American government officials … The Iranian nation will never ever forget and forgive these crimes and criminals.”
He said that Iran will not accept to sit at the negotiating table with the US while it was under sanctions.
“On behalf of my nation and country, I would like to announce that our response to any negotiation under sanctions is ‘no’. The government and people of Iran have remained steadfast in the face of the harshest sanctions in the past one and a half years, and will never negotiate with an enemy that seeks to force Iran to surrender through using the weapons of poverty, pressure and sanction,” Rouhani said.