Time for E3, US to Stop Pretending to Be Asleep: Iran Foreign Ministry
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman slammed the US and the three European countries involved in the negotiations on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal for giving in to pressures exerted by Israel which hates the JCPOA and is the only possessor of nuclear weapons in the region.
“Israeli regime, as the world's #1 JCPOA hater happens to be NPT-denier & the only nuke-possessor of the MENA region. We know this. The world knows this,” Saeed Khatibzadeh wrote in a tweet on Wednesday.
“Time for E3/US to stop pretending to be asleep. They can pursue diplomacy—or pursue the opposite. We’re ready for both,” he added.
Earlier on Wednesday, Khatibzadeh warned that Iran will respond strongly and proportionately to any “unconstructive move” at the upcoming meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) a day after dismissing the UN nuclear watchdog's latest report on the country’s nuclear program.
He asserted that Iran’s nuclear program is entirely peaceful and it will “naturally respond strongly and appropriately to any unconstructive move” at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting, which will be held on June 6.
“Those who regard the Board of Governors and the director general’s report as leverage and tools of political games against Iran are responsible for the consequences,” he said.
The meeting comes as a pause in the marathon negotiations to revive the 2015 Iran deal enters its third month, with prospects described by Washington as “tenuous at best” while Iran blames the US and its three European allies – France, Britain, and Germany – for failing to act constructively.
Under the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran accepted certain caps on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
The US, however, unilaterally abandoned the deal in 2018 and re-imposed crippling sanctions despite Tehran’s full compliance with its share of obligations.
With the prospects looking bleak, the US, France, Britain, and Germany are now reportedly pushing the UN nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors to rebuke Iran for failing to answer key questions on so-called uranium traces, shifting the blame on Tehran amid their failure to honor commitments.
The IAEA board “calls upon Iran to act on an urgent basis to fulfill its legal obligations and take up immediately the (IAEA) director general’s offer of further engagement to clarify and resolve all outstanding safeguards issues,” said a draft text sent to IAEA member states and seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
The Iranian spokesman suggested that Israel might be behind the well-recognized psychological warfare waged against the Islamic Republic.
He raised concerns that the political pressures exerted by Israel may have pushed the IAEA’s report to shift its focus away from technical matters and toward political issues.
