FM Zarif calls US claims on its ability to trigger snapback mechanism ‘shameless’

“Taking unprecedented step of punishing those who seek to COMPLY with UN Security Council isn't enough for this @statedept,” he tweeted on Wednesday.

“Now it claims that US can use snapback because it's a JCPOA participant. NEWS FLASH: @realdonaldtrump explicitly long ago 'ceased US participation'. Shameless.”

Zarif also posted the order of US President Donald Trump for ‘ceasing US participation in the JCPOA’ in May 2018, implying that Washington is not entitled to trigger the mechanism since it no longer is a participant to the deal.

Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May 2018 and imposed sanctions on Iran’s economy while also punishing any other country that would try to normalize economic ties with Iran according to the UN Security Council resolution.

Washington has labeled the sanctions as ‘maximum pressure’, hoping to get a ‘better’ deal with Iran. Tehran stresses that there will be no new round of talks with a country that has already broken several deals signed with many countries. Iran says that if the unilateral sanctions are removed and the US returns to the JCPOA, P5+1 countries can again start negotiations.

Meanwhile, Tehran is in the middle of a process to scale back its commitments under the JCPOA. The Islamic Republic says its patience is also over with the Europeans because of their failure to protect Iran from the effects of the sanctions. 

Recently, some US officials in the Department of Secretary claimed that Washington is able to start the snapback mechanism despite being out of the deal. If triggered, the mechanism will return UN sanctions against Iran that were removed after signing the nuclear deal. European countries had earlier threatened Iran with triggering the snapback, also called the dispute mechanism due to Iran’s measures in reducing commitments to the JCPOA.

“If the European states use the mechanism, Iran will also reconsider some of its commitments to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” Ali Larijani, Iranian Parliament Speaker, said in early Dec. in reaction to EU’s threats.

MNA