In today’s open session of Parliament, Speaker Ali Larijani allocated the first part of his speech to the recent move by the US Congress in passing a bill on the extension of sanctions against Iran which according to Larijani and a number of other Iranian senior officials, is in clear violation of the nuclear deal, dubbed JCPOA.
“Not even one democrat in the US Congress voted against the measure,” Larijani said. “The whole system of the US government, the democrats and republicans, have all approved of the extension and this shows their lack of trust in the current American president.”
Larijani went on to stress that the US bill is against the nuclear agreement, adding “with a quick overview that I did, I found at least 8 instances in the JCPOA that opposes such a measure.”
Larijani pointed to article 23 of the JCPOA in which the United States is obliged to terminate, or modify to effectuate the termination of, the sanctions specified in Annex II which includes Iran’s energy sector, joint investment, and oil, gas and petrochemical sectors; “in ISA, the focus of sanctions is on oil, gas and its subsequent investment such as petrochemical sector, and according to Article 23, the US is required to avoid placing sanctions on these sectors,” he added.
He also maintained that the 5+1 have vowed to implement the nuclear deal with good will based on mutual respect and in a constructive atmosphere. The parties have been prohibited from replacing sanctions or making restricting measures under the JCPOA, he added.
“The US move has no justification in terms of its international commitments,” he said. “On the other hand, Iran’s commitment to the deal has been affirmed many times by international organizations.”
Larijani then called on the Government to act upon “The Islamic Republic of Iran Government's Reciprocal and Proportional Action” which includes an article, among other things, that urges the government's mindfulness of potential failure in removing the sanctions against Iran or reversing them.
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