Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, made the remarks in a televised interview on Saturday night, discussing the new US Congress sanctions bill on Iran and the Islamic Republic’s response to what it considers as a violation of the nuclear deal dubbed JCPOA.
“The new bill imposes sanctions on Iran under the pretext of human rights, terrorism, missile program and whatever excuse that is not nuclear-related, in an attempt to scare individuals away from doing business with Iran,” Araghchi explained, saying the US move is a violation of nuclear deal as it undermines the principle of ‘implementation with goodwill’ included in the multilateral accord.
Araghchi went on to add, however, that the US is still far from a “gross violation” of the nuclear deal.
The Iranian diplomat stressed that Iran would make an “appropriate reaction” to the sanctions bill, explaining “Mr. Trump and the US as a whole are trying to pull out of the nuclear deal while shoving the whole costs of the accord’s failure on Iran.”
He went on to add, “they want to put pressure on Iran until we either reach a critical point in our anger or the benefits of the nuclear deal drop to the point where we decide to pull out of it. But the principle to which we are adamantly committed is that we will keep the deal as long as it benefits us. Once its disadvantages and costs exceed its benefits, we will not hesitate to drop the deal.”
Araghchi stressed however that Iran would make sure to strike a blow to US in response to the sanctions bill without risking the nuclear deal.
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