Iran will show proper reaction if JCPOA violated: Salehi

Iran will show a “proper” reaction to any move aimed at violating or undermining the landmark nuclear agreement it signed with the P5+1 group of countries more than two years ago, Iran’s nuclear chief says.

“If others question the JCPOA (nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and violate it, Iran will definitely show a proper reaction,” Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said on the sidelines of the 20th Edoardo Amaldi Conference in Rome, Italy, on Tuesday.

The conference focused on the 60th anniversary of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and of the treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) under the theme of international cooperation for enhancing nuclear safety, security, safeguards and non-proliferation.

“During the conference, we announced the Islamic Republic’s stance on the JCPOA and said as long as others remain committed to the JCPOA, Iran will also remain committed,” Salehi said.

He added that most of the participants at the Edoardo Amaldi Conference believed that the JCPOA was a very valuable achievement which must be sustained by all members of the international community.

In a statement on Monday, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano once again confirmed that Iran was in compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA.

“I can state that the nuclear-related commitments undertaken by Iran under the (nuclear agreement) are being implemented,” Amano said in prepared remarks during the Edoardo Amaldi Conference.

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany signed the nuclear agreement on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.

Since the JCPOA Implementation Day, the IAEA has been verifying and monitoring Iran’s compliance with its nuclear-related commitments under the nuclear deal and has consistently verified the Islamic Republic’s compliance.

However, the administration of US President Donald Trump, which took over a year after the JCPOA had come into force, has repeatedly attacked the agreement and desperately sought a pretext to scrap or weaken the deal.

While the Trump administration has twice certified Iranian compliance with the deal in notifications to the US Congress under an American law, the White House has indicated that a third verification — due later this week — would not be offered.

In a meeting with senior US military leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday, Trump accused Iran of failing to act in keeping with the international nuclear deal, which was negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama, saying, “They have not lived up to the spirit of the agreement.”

JCPOA non-implementation will definitely draw Iran’s proportionate reaction: Envoy

Meanwhile, Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations Gholamali Khoshroo also said on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic would show a “proportionate reaction” to any violation of commitments under the JCPOA by any signatory.

“To make it clear, any continued significant non-implementation of the JCPOA commitments by one of its participants will definitely be faced with a proportionate reaction by Iran,” Khoshroo said in an address to the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly On all disarmament and international security agenda items in New York.

The Iranian ambassador emphasized that the international community has acknowledged that the signing of the JCPOA was a “win-win achievement” and urged all sides to fully and continuously implement the accord.

“Diplomacy and such a cardinal principle of international law as the pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be kept) would be the main losers and victims of a possible withdrawal from the JCPOA or continued significant failure in its implementation by one of its participants,” he said.

The Iranian diplomat warned that any party that violates the JCPOA must “bear the responsibility and be aware of all the ramifications of its act.”