Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks while speaking to reporters after the meeting of JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna on Friday.
“Iran has practiced self-restraint and caution,” in the face of US pullout from the nuclear deal, Zarif said, adding “now we wait to see if other parties to the agreement will implement all the objectives that we agreed upon and have been included in the joint statement.”
The statement released on Friday by the Joint Commission on implementation of JCPOA stresses wider economic cooperation with Iran, continuation of Iran’s export of oil and gas, and encouragement of further investments in Iran, among other objectives.
Asked about the implementability of the EU’s package of proposals, Zarif said that Iran found the package “insufficient” and “inaccurate”. He added, however, that the Joint Commission’s statement covered some points that had been left out of the package.
“The package is finalized to some extent and the commitments are clear, we just have to wait and see its implementation,” Zarif said, adding that the implementation would be “gradual”.
“What matters is that a sense of confidence and trust in the future will be established in the global and internal trade communities,” he stressed.
“Our goal is to implement the JCPOA,” Zarif said, adding “but we also made sure that the other side is completely informed of our measures to guarantee the implementation of the agreement. This is not a threat, but rather a stress on the need to have all sides to deal implement their commitments in the proper way and at the proper time and in good will.”
Zarif further stressed that the package is not exclusively a European one, but a commitment expressed by the five remaining sides to the nuclear deal and the European Union.
“The measures must come into effect by the time US sanctions are reinstated,” Zarif said, noting the EU’s blocking laws and the activation of European Investment Bank as instances of promised measures by the European sides.
MS/4340033