“He (Trump) doesn't like (former President Barack) Obama's legacy, he just wants to withdraw from the deal because of personal reasons, not because of some substantial reasons,” he told Bernama on Thursday during his official one-day visit to Malaysia.
Tensions initially built up between US and Iran after President Trump withdrew Washington from the 2015 Nuclear Deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and imposed severe sanctions against Tehran. Trump administration insists that they are ready for talks with Iran but Tehran says it will resist in face of all pressures and that there will be no talks with a party which has already violated many international agreements.
Macron has led the European effort to salvage the Iran nuclear deal. European countries have established a financial mechanism, INSTEX, to continue trade with Tehran but Iran says this is not enough as it doesn’t cover the country’s oil sales and banking relations which are under US’s unilateral sanctions.
One year after the US withdrawal, Iran announced cuts to its JCPOA commitments after other signatories to the deal failed to comply with their obligations. Iran is asking other signatories to shield its economy from US unilateral sanctions which were imposed after Washington withdrew from the deal in 2018.
Iran will not renegotiate its part in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but is open to talks with all parties concerned to find ways forward in fulfilling the obligations, continued Zarif in his interview with the Malaysian outlet.
He urged other European members of the accord to fully commit to the agreement – also known as Iran nuclear deal – adding that Iran “will remain faithful to this deal, to the same extent other members are faithful to this deal.”
“If they need to engage with the United States themselves in order to be able to comply with the obligation, then that’s something they would do and Iran would not have any role in it.”
"We (have) already talked to the US extensively for over two years and we've reached a conclusion ... that was 159-page long... it is a serious agreement, (including) almost all aspects of the nuclear issues as well as the aspect of the US sanctions against Iran,” he said, highlighting that it is impossible to renegotiate the agreement.
MAH/PR
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