Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Zarif said “Iran is ready to reverse its JCPOA countermeasures in proportion to the measures taken by Europe.”
Iran will decide whether Europe’s measures in this regard are sufficient to slow down or reverse some of the already taken countermeasures, Zarif stressed.
“If Europe meets Iran's economic interests, Tehran would be willing to return to its commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal,” he said.
Zarif went on to clarify, “We are not talking about humanitarian goods. We are talking about the rights of the Iranian people to receive economic benefits.”
“Iran has suffered a lot under the US sanctions, but if Europe takes meaningful steps, we will also reverse our countermeasures,” Zarif maintained.
Iran began the countermeasures in May on the anniversary of the United States withdrawal from its 2015 nuclear agreement with major world powers. The deal was signed in Vienna in 2015 between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group of states comprising the US, the UK, France, China, and Russia plus Germany.
Iran set off the nuclear countermeasures to retaliate against the US withdrawal and its subsequent re-imposition of sanctions, but also to prompt the deal’s European sides to meet their commitments under the JCPOA to keep up their trade with Tehran despite Washington’s bans.
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