Iranian Spokesman Outlines Conditions for US to Rejoin JCPOA

In a post on his Twitter account on Tuesday, Saeed Khatibzadeh dismissed the latest claim by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan about the side that has withdrawn from the 2015 nuclear deal.

“Jake Sullivan claims Iran has left JCPOA. Is he unaware that it was US that left?” he wondered.

“Path for US return is clear: admission of culpability, end to its 'max failure' campaign & guarantee that int'l law won't be mocked again,” Khatibzadeh underlined.

“JCPOA fundamentally dictates these basic expectations,” he added.

On Sunday, the US national security adviser said in an interview on CNN that Iran has not shown willingness to fully comply with the JCPOA "despite us working closely with our allies and partners to create the negotiating circumstances for that happening".

Former US president Donald Trump nixed the JCPOA in May 2018 and re-imposed the anti-Iran sanctions that the deal had lifted. He also placed additional sanctions on Iran under other pretexts not related to the nuclear case as part of his “maximum pressure” campaign.

Following a year of strategic patience, Iran resorted to its legal rights stipulated in Article 26 of the JCPOA, which grants a party the right to suspend its contractual commitments in case of non-compliance by other signatories and let go of some of the restrictions imposed on its nuclear energy program, Press TV reported.

Iran and the remaining parties to the JCPOA -- Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia -- have held six rounds of talks in Vienna since April, which began after the administration of US President Joe Biden voiced willingness to rejoin the agreement. The talks were, however, put on hold in the run-up to Iran’s presidential election in June so that the Islamic Republic could go through a period of government transition.