Iranian Ministerial Nominee Dashes Hopes for JCPOA Revival
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iranian president's pick for foreign minister has ruled out the chance of revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a lawmaker said.
Speaking to Tasnim, the vice chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s Social Commission gave details of a meeting the commission held with Abbas Araqchi on Tuesday evening.
The proposed minister has talked about the 2015 nuclear deal in the meeting, saying that “it is not possible anymore to revive the JCPOA”, Mohsen Fathi said.
According to the lawmaker, Araqchi has made it clear that the Foreign Ministry will not be targeting (the revival of) the JCPOA under the new administration, but will focus on the removal of sanctions on the basis of unification of diplomacy and the field.
Araqchi has also told the MPs that Iran can never end hostilities with the US, but can handle the feud in such a way that Iranian people suffer less harm by neutralizing and circumventing the sanctions, Fathi added.
Araqchi will take the helm at the Foreign Ministry once he wins a vote of confidence from the Parliament in the coming days.
Araqchi, 61, was a deputy foreign minister in the administration of former President Hassan Rouhani and played a leading role in the negotiations that resulted in the JCPOA in 2015.