Iran hopeful about Europe remaining in nuclear deal

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araghchi has expressed hope that Europe will remain committed to the nuclear deal.

On Jan. 29, Araghchi appeared on Ofogh TV’s hard-line political show to respond to the criticisms and ambiguous points of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was achieved between Iran and the P5+1 (United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany) in 2015. Based on this agreement, Iran limited its nuclear program and, in return, nuclear-related sanctions were lifted.

Complaining about the United States not honoring its commitments under the JCPOA, Araghchi said, “What we recognize as a violation of the JCOPA by the United States, and we have protested it, is related to the paragraphs of Articles 26, 28 and 29 of the JCPOA. The United States is obligated to implement the JCPOA with goodwill like other parties. Unfortunately, [US President Donald] Trump has started to destroy this constructive atmosphere since his coming to [power]. Of course, [the same thing happened] during [former US President Barack] Obama’s era, but it was not so serious. The passage of the visa law was not a gross violation of the JCPOA, [but it was] a breach of Articles 26 and 28, [because] it could disrupt the economic cooperation atmosphere [between Iran] and some citizens of [a number of] countries.”

He added, “What is clear is that we will remain in the JCPOA as long as we benefit from the JCPOA, and we pursue the violations [of the JCPOA] through our channels.”