Seyyed Abbas Araghchi made the comments at the 2019 Moscow Nonproliferation Conference titled Nuclear Energy, Disarmament and Nonproliferation in Moscow on Saturday afternoon, during which he detailed Iran's stances on the nuclear agreement or the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as well as some other regional issues.
In his address to the conference, the Iranian deputy foreign minister first referred to the recent developments in the region, including the ongoing tensions in the Persian Gulf region such as the recent rocket attack on the Iranian tanker Sabiti 60 miles off the coast of Saudi Jeddah port city on October 11.
Araghchi said that investigations are underway on the incident to identify the cause of the missile attack, underlining that "we will respond to it at the right time and place."
Later, the senior Iranian diplomat addressed developments revolving around the JCPOA, saying that the steps that Iran has taken so far back from its JCPOA commitments are in accordance with the provisions of the deal.
He said that the problem as a whole began when the US illegally left the JCPOA, blaming the tensions in the region on Trump’s administration’s actions.
He added that Iran will return to fully abide by its JCPOA commitments if the US lifts all the sanctions that imposed after its withdrawal from the accord on May 8, 2018.
Araghchi also said that the efforts by Russia and China prevented Iran from leaving the deal, saying “had it not been for the consolations with Moscow and Beijing, Iran may have withdrawn from the JCPOA a long time ago.”
He added that Iran is till implementing the deal despite being under the ‘US economic terrorism’.
"We are still in compliance with the agreement and are only exercising our rights under paragraph 36,” he said, adding “we are ready to return to full compliance with the agreement, provided our interests in the agreement are guaranteed."
The diplomat also noted that Iran seeks to leave the door open for diplomacy and wants to preserve the deal.
Araghchi further described the US ‘maximum pressure’ campaign against Iran as a failed policy, adding that the US policy is not working and has not achieved its objectives.
He noted that Iran has adopted the maximum resistance against the US in return, underlining that Iran’s resistance against the pressures will continue.
“I can tell you that the policy of maximum pressure has only led to maximum resistance in Iran and we will continue to do so because if the maximum policy succeeds, we cannot live in the future anymore and we must always be under pressure. That's why we're not going to let this happen."
In response to the question what Iran would do if European countries revived the UN Security Council sanctions, the Iranian deputy foreign minister warned that "with regard to [the snapback of the sanctions] and the trigger mechanism I think we have made it absolutely clear to all participants in the JCPOA that snapback and the return of previous resolutions [the Security Council] is a red line for Iran."
He further warned that Iran would revise its nuclear doctrine if Iran’s file was under the Chapter Seven of the UN Charter again.
“If Iran is put under the Chapter Seven of the UN Charter again despite all the cooperation with the IAEA and negotiations and engagement, it would mean that our ‘nuclear doctrine’ had been wrong and that we have to revise our nuclear policy and doctrine.”
In relation to the ‘sunset provisions’ in the JCPOA, Araghchi said “the fact is that the JCPOA is based on one principle that is Iran's commitment to non-production of nuclear weapons, which is permanent and Iran has pledged not to move towards that.”
He said the reason some restrictions were imposed on Iran's nuclear program for periods of 10, 15, and in some cases 20 and 25 years was ‘confidence building’ and "you cannot expect any country to be building confidence forever."
He went to scorn Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his claims on the existence of a secret nuclear archive in a desert in Iran as fabricated and a funny story.
Responding to a question about Iran's initiative to reduce tensions in the Persian Gulf known as the Hormuz Peace Endeavor (HOPE), he said Tehran believes in collective security and security for all.