by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Hassan Rouhani
Vienna : Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who’s on a visit here on Wednesday, said that no one will get benefits from US withdrawal from the nuclear deal.
“Not the US, not any other country would benefit from this decision to withdraw from the accord,” he said.
He told a press conference that Tehran would prefer to stay in the deal and continue to cooperate and meet its obligations, if the remaining signatories respect its interests, Xinhua reported.
Rouhani was in Vienna on Wednesday on his second leg of his European tour, which also brought him to Switzerland.
As the United States is reinstating sanctions on Iran, Rouhani is trying to seek supports from EU countries to secure Tehran’s interests under the nuclear deal.
Iran signed the landmark nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) with the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany in 2015 to halt its nuclear weapons program in exchange for sanctions relief.
However, US President Donald Trump decided on May 8 to quit the deal and vowed to re-impose sanctions, including oil embargo, on Tehran, on grounds that the deal had failed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons or supporting terrorism in the region.
The US withdrawal from the landmark nuclear deal has been widely criticized, as some of its major European allies have been working to prevent the 2015 deal from falling apart.
Rouhani also discussed other issues in the Middle East region with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Mohammad Javad Zarif
Tehran : Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has urged international condemnation of US attitude towards Iran’s 2015 landmark nuclear deal, the media reported.
In letters to his counterparts of a number of countries, Zarif on Sunday warned of the dangerous consequences of the US “illegal and unilateral” move to pull out of the nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Xinhua reported citing Press TV.
He called for international condemnation of what he called Washington’s “extremism,” urging the world to withstand US “lawbreaking and bullying behavior.”
“Illegal withdrawal of the US government from the JCPOA… is challenging the goals and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the efficiency of international bodies,” the Iranian Foreign Minister said.
Likewise, the US withdrawal from the JCPOA was the country’s biggest effort aimed at violating and weakening the nuclear accord and the UN Resolution 2231, adopted in July 2015 to endorse the historic deal, he said.
Zarif further said the JCPOA put an end to an “unnecessary crisis” which lasted for more than one decade.
He emphasized that the agreement’s scope, regulations and time frame were the outcome of “accurate, sensitive and balanced multilateral” talks and it is impossible to make any changes on or hold new negotiations about them.
US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 to pull out of the treaty, and vowed to re-impose sanctions on Iran, which was alleviated under the JCPOA.
Iran has said that it will stay in the deal as long as the other five powers remain committed to it despite the US pullout.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Iran
Tehran : Political sympathy from Europe with Iran’s nuclear deal is “not enough” and they should take more “practical steps” to guarantee Iran’s economic interests from the deal, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said here on Sunday.
“With the exit of the US from the nuclear agreement, expectations from the the European Union (EU) to preserve the achievements of the deal are high,” Zarif made the remarks in a meeting with the visiting EU’s Energy Chief Miguel Arias Canete, Xinhua reported.
“Under the current circumstances, political support of Europe to the nuke deal is not sufficient,” Zarif said.
“EU should take further practical steps to continue economic cooperation with Iran,” he said, adding that “EU should boost investments in Iran.”
The Iranian minister called for OPEC member states to remain united in their upcoming decision to secure members’ interests and market stability.
He expressed doubt that Europe’s commitment to implementing the deal, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is in contradiction with the withdrawal of major European companies from Iran’s projects after the US pulled out.
US President Donald Trump decided on May 8 to quit Iran’s nuclear deal and vowed to re-impose sanctions, including oil embargo, on Tehran.
Canete said Saturday that “we will have to ask for (sanction) waivers, for carve-outs for the (European) companies that make investments.”
Besides, Salehi said that he discussed reapplying European law of “the blocking statute” with Canete on Saturday.
Canete arrived in Tehran on Friday for a two-day visit to reassure Iran that the EU wants to keep open trade and cooperation with Iran despite the US decision to pull out.
Iran pushes the EU for the revival of “the blocking statute” which is a 1996 regulation that prohibits EU companies and courts from complying with foreign sanctions laws and stipulates that no foreign court judgments based on these laws have any effect in the EU.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Mohammad Javad Zarif
Tehran : Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday that he had a “good and constructive” meeting with the EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini over the survival of 2015 nuclear deal.
“We have started working to reach the guarantees,” Xinhua cited Tasnim news agency quoting Zarif as saying who referred to Iran’s demand that the remaining parties to Iran’s nuclear deal or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) should ensure Tehran’s interests will be protected.
“It was a good and constructive meeting,” he said, adding that “we are on the right track … to make sure that the interests of the remaining signatories of the JCPOA, especially Iran, will be guaranteed.”
Zarif is in Brussels on the final leg of a diplomatic tour to save the 2015 nuclear deal after the recent US withdrawal from the pact. The tour has already taken him to Beijing and Moscow.
Last week, US President Donald Trump said that the US would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, a landmark agreement signed in 2015.
Trump added that he will not sign the waiver of nuke-related sanctions against Iran.
Accordingly, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran would remain in the international nuclear deal in case the country’s interests are secured by other parties to the agreement.
“If the remaining five countries in the deal live up to their commitments and guarantee Iran’s interests, the agreement will survive,” he said on Sunday during a meeting with visiting Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
IAEA chief Yukiya Amano
Tehran : The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano has said Iran is living up to its commitments under the 2015 international nuclear deal, the media reported.
Since January 2016, the IAEA has monitored Iran’s nuclear commitments under the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and conducted verification checks, said Amano on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.
“The agency believes that the JCPOA is an important achievement for verification. The agency could stipulate that Iran’s nuclear commitments under the JCPOA are being implemented,” he was also quoted as saying by Press TV on Sunday, according to Xinhua.
Amano made the remarks in a press conference with Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi.
The IAEA is in charge of monitoring restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program under the nuclear agreement. So far the agency has released eight reports each time confirming Iran’s adherence to the international nuclear pact.
Amano will also hold talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif focusing on the verification and monitoring of the implementation of the nuclear deal.
Amano’s visit comes amid US President Donald Trump’s earlier remarks that Washington could not formally certify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear accord. Washington has also demanded inspections of Iran’s military sites, which Tehran has rejected.
On Sunday, Salehi said that he had exchanged views with Amano about Section T of the JCPOA, which deals with the technology that could contribute to the development of a nuclear explosive device.
Section T does not include special inspections, but the United States is making its own special interpretation of the provision, Salehi was quoted as saying by Press TV.
He warned that “we can produce uranium enrichment at 20 per cent within four days, but we do not want the JCPOA to collapse.”
Following the nuclear agreement between Iran and the major world powers in 2015, which was implemented in January 2016, Iran agreed to stop the enrichment of uranium to 20 per cent level.
—IANS
