“The act of US violation of UN Security Council resolution and the imposition of unilateral unlawful sanctions as well as the application of extraterritorial national laws to other countries by the US certainly endangers the international peace and security,” Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, said while addressing the 63rd annual regular session of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Monday.
Elaborating on the status of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Salehi said “There is a broad agreement among the international community that the JCPOA is a real turning point in the history of multilateralism as an important international achievement.”
“Against lifting of nuclear-related sanctions, Iran has accepted some provisional limitations on its nuclear program and provided unprecedented level of monitoring and access to the IAEA in the context of new commitment under the additional protocol and the JCPOA itself,” he said, adding, “In this regard it is noteworthy with only 3% of worldwide nuclear facilities, Iran has provided almost 20% of Agency’s accesses.”
“At the same time, the Islamic Republic of Iran has always made it clear that acquiring, producing, stockpiling, and eventually the used of weapons of mass destruction is neither legitimate under religious principles nor envisaged in Iran’s defense doctrine,” he stressed.
Salehi went on to say that despite verifications of the IAEA, US called the JCPOA as the worse deal of that country and withdraw from it, noting, “It is noteworthy that the US has developed all categories of weapon of mass destruction including nuclear weapons, and even used it against others.” Washington is also threatening some other countries with use of nukes, he said.
“Although the deal has been praised as an outstanding achievement of years of diplomatic efforts, respective states have failed to go beyond expressing regret for the violation of UN Security Council resolution 2231 by the US administration,” said Salehi.
“The outcome of the deal for us has turned into inhumane and illegal sanctions against our trade, economy and foreigners’ investments in clear contradiction with the provisions of the JCPOA and the UN Security resolution. Unfortunately such sanctions have also affected areas such as food, medicine, radiopharmaceutical products and even Iran’s nuclear regulatory authority.”
“It should be emphasized that the JCPOA is a multilateral deal, encompasses rights and responsibilities for all parties; therefore implementation of this deal by only one party is not a legitimate expectation nor a practical possibility.”
He went on to say that Iran showed ‘strategic patience’ for more than a year after US withdrawal from the deal “to allow the remaining parties to the deal to fulfill their commitments including compensation of the effects of this withdrawal.”
Salehi said that despite promises of other countries to save the agreement, “We are still far from realizing the basic objectives of the deal and meeting the legitimate demands of Iran. Hence there were no options for Iran other resorting to the relevant provisions of the JCPOA to seize partially its commitments in order to provide a new window diplomacy to preserve the deal.”
“It should be noted that Iran’s partial cessation of its commitments is reversible in case of full and effective implementation of JCPOA by the remaining parties to the deal,” highlighted the Iranian official.
“Preserving the deal is a common responsibility of all members of the international community and if the world fails to save the agreement, multilateralism will lose its effectiveness and any further peaceful resolution of the conflicts will be challenged.”
He also called on the international community to condemn US unilateral measures.
MAH/
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