US Behavior Cause of Reduction in Iran’s JCPOA Commitments: Zarif
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The US has admitted that its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal has prompted Iran to take steps away from the JCPOA, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.
“US admits that only after it ‘left the JCPOA, Iran has taken steps away’ while until then ‘Iran was living up to its limits,’” Zarif said in a post on his Twitter account on Thursday.
His comments came in response to recent remarks by US State Department spokesman Ned Price, who admitted that Iran remained compliant with the JCPOA before the deal was ditched by former US President Donald Trump in May 2018.
“That US behavior—the CAUSE—has not changed,” Zarif added.
Zarif also slammed the three European parties to the nuclear deal –France, the UK and Germany- for being “culpable” as they have refrained from business with Iran for three years, although they had undertaken to compensate for the US’ exit from the JCPOA.
He then advised the US and three European countries that if they want Iran to reverse its remedial actions taken under Article 36 of the JCPOA and return to full commitments under the JCPOA, they must remove the cause of Iran’s measures instead of asking Iran to stop its remedial steps, Press TV reported.
Trump withdrew the US from the JCPOA in May 2018, referring to it as the “worst deal ever,” while Iran was in full compliance with the deal and remained so even a year after the US withdrawal. The former hawkish US president re-imposed sanctions on Iran to force it to renegotiate a “better deal.”