Iran may quit JCPOA if nuclear case sent to Security Council: AEOI spokesman

Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman of the AEOI, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Press TV, when asked about Iran’s possible reaction to US’s potential decision to take the Islamic Republic’s nuclear case back to the Security Council.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will take drastic and major steps to realize the right of the Iranian nation,” he said, adding, “We cannot exclude any measure … We have so far talked about different measures. It could be leaving the [nuclear] deal [and] it could be other actions as to the NPT (the Non-Proliferation Treaty) or any other things…. It is for the senior officials of the country to decide.”

“If they take Iran’s case to the Security Council, they will ruin the deal … and the deal will not be alive anymore,” he said.

US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington in May 2018 from the multilateral nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and decided to re-impose unilateral sanctions against Tehran.

Under the JCPOA, reached in July 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions.

On the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran announced that it would suspend the implementation of some of its commitments under the deal, announcing that it would stop exporting excess uranium and heavy water, setting a 60-day deadline for the five remaining parties to the deal to take practical measures towards ensuring its interests in the face of the American sanctions.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi also said in an interview on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic has put a “step-by-step” withdrawal from the nuclear deal on the agenda.

‘Withdrawal from nuclear deal on Iran’s agenda’A senior Iranian diplomat says the Islamic Republic has put withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal on the agenda.

“We have not left the JCPOA so far, but we have put such a move on our agenda and that would happen step-by-step,” the senior Iranian diplomat said, adding, “No country can accuse Iran of breaching or leaving the nuclear deal.”

Elsewhere in his interview with Press TV, Kamalvandi said Iran has no intention to stop fulfilling its commitments under the JCPOA, but decided to suspend parts of them for six months.

Tehran’s decision to suspend some of its nuclear deal commitments was meant to give time to Europeans to comply with their obligations and to bring the international agreement back on its right track, he added.

The Iranian official said the main objective of the JCPOA was the removal of sanctions against Iran in a bid to help the country avail itself of the benefits of the deal; however, the restrictive measures are still in place despite Tehran’s full compliance and the goal has not been realized so far.

The Iranian nuclear official also criticized the European signatories to the agreement for failing to implement the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) aimed at circumventing the US sanctions.