DUBAI, July 22. /TASS/. The President-elect of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian is ready to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program, says Mohammad Javad Zarif, Head of the consultative committee on the establishment of Pezeshkian’s government and the former Foreign Minister of Iran.
"Our new government, led by President-elect Pezeshkian, is ready to engage in a dialogue in the spirit of good will - in accordance with the JCPOA and the Iranian law - to ensure the mutual compliance of this unique diplomatic achievement," he said on his X page.
Zarif also underscored that it is necessary to comply with the 2020 Iranian law "On strategic actions on cancellation of sanctions and protection of interests of the Iranian people." This document has become a response to the US’ unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018, followed by then-President Donald Trump restoring the US’ anti-Iranian sanctions, including the oil export embargo.
"As I have already explained in my letter to the UN Secretary General several days before my resignation [as the Foreign Minister], the US, the EU and the European trio (the UK, Germany and France) are to blame for our legislative body’s reaction to their consecutive disregard for their legal obligations, which caused an uncountable damage to the Iranian people. They should make amends and ensure Iran’s unobstructed obtaining of benefits from the deal," the former minister said.
Under the abovementioned law, Tehran cut a number of obligations under the nuclear deal, including the cessation of the IAEA inspections beyond the non-proliferation treaty, signed by the Islamic Republic and the IAEA, and prohibiting strict monitoring methods.
According to the Iranian authorities, the West must return to total compliance with the JCPOA in order to restore the existing monitoring measures for the Iranian nuclear program. By May 2024, Iran authorized operation of 130 IAEA inspectors.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, was signed by Iran, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Russia, the United Kingdom, China, the United States and France) and Germany in 2015. The United States withdrew from the agreement in 2018 under President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, incumbent US President Joe Biden has repeatedly signaled that Washington was ready to return to the nuclear deal. In April 2021, Russia, Britain, Germany, China, the United States and France entered negotiations with Iran in Vienna in an effort to restore the JCPOA to its original form. However, the talks ended without any result in November 2022.