Preconditions for US Return to JCPOA

EghtesadOnline: Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations said the United States’ return to the 2015 nuclear deal would only be accepted with preconditions.

News ID: ۷۸۵۶۳۷

28 September 2020

In an interview with BBC, Majid Takht-Ravanchi said Iran first requires official “assurance” that the US violation of the deal will not be repeated.

Iran also demands “compensation” for the damage it suffered as a result of American sanctions over the past few years, he added.

US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018 and reimposed tough sanctions on Iran to force its leaders to renegotiate a broader agreement.

Iran has refused to enter any talks with the US and has scaled back its JCPOA commitments in response to the American “maximum pressure”.

Trump’s rival, democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, has now said that if he is elected, and Iran respected all its obligations under JCPOA, he would join the agreement.

Takht-Ravanchi said Iran does not care who will be in the White House after the November elections, stressing that under any president, the US needs to stop its “illegal approach” against Iran, which includes decades of sanctions.

He told the news agency that if the US fulfills those conditions and vows to return to full JCPOA compliance, Iran would also be ready to fully implement the nuclear agreement.

The UN envoy was echoing Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s earlier comments about the issue of US rejoining JCPOA in an interview with the Russian news outlet Sputnik.

"The return of the United States to the nuclear deal is the first step that they should take. For this return, [the US] must compensate for damage it caused to the Iranian nation, as well as for measures taken by the US to undermine the nuclear deal and promise not to do it again," he had said.

Zarif had also underlined that what matters for Iran is the “American policy” rather than who is in charge of the administration.

Trump’s administration has introduced new sanctions on Iranian individuals and entities to support its claim that international sanctions against Tehran are now revived as a result of the US disputed activation of a so-called “snapback” process.

Trump had earlier boasted that he could do a new deal with Iran “within four weeks”, if he is reelected.

However, in an election campaign rally in Florida on Friday, he said the agreement with the US will be much harder after the election.

Biden, on the other hand, has pledged to build on the same agreement.

“So if Joe Biden is president, if Iran returns to compliance with the nuclear agreement, we would do the same. But then we would use that as a platform, working with our allies and partners to try to strengthen and lengthen it,” his foreign policy adviser said in an interview with CBS News.