Repeating Same Policies Not to Yield New Results, Zarif Tells US
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif deplored the US state secretary’s recent remarks about Iran’s blocked assets in South Korea, warning Washington against repeating the failed policies of the previous American administration.
“US claims it favors diplomacy; not Trump's failed policy of "maximum pressure”. Yet @SecBlinken boasts abt blocking Korea from transferring our OWN money to the Swiss Channel—only used for food & meds,” Zarif said in a tweet on Thursday.
“Repeating the same policy won't yield new results. Only way: #CommitActMeet,” he added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said Washington will oppose the release of billions of dollars in Iranian funds from South Korea until Tehran has fully complied with the 2015 nuclear deal.
“If Iran comes back into compliance with its obligations under the nuclear agreement, we would do the same thing,” Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee when asked about the Iranian money in South Korea blocked by US sanctions.
“That would involve – if it came to that, if Iran made good on its obligations – sanctions relief pursuant to the agreement,” he said.
Iranian officials have reiterated that the US must return to the nuclear deal by lifting its sanctions on Tehran before Iran resumes fully honoring the JCPOA commitments.
In remarks in February, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said Iran will resume honoring the JCPOA in full only after the US has removed all sanctions on Tehran in a practical and verifiable manner.
The JCPOA was signed in 2015 between Iran and six world states —the US, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China— and was ratified in the form of Resolution 2231.
However, former US president Donald Trump unilaterally pulled Washington out of the JCPOA in May 2018 and reinstated the sanctions that had been lifted by the deal.
In May 2019, Iran began to scale back its JCPOA commitments after the remaining European parties failed to fulfill their end of the bargain and compensate for Washington’s absence.