US Congress bill violating JCPOA: Iran’s Judiciary Chief

Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani who was addressing the Judiciary high-ranking officials on Monday, said that the developments in recent two weeks in US Congress and government would be aptly called violation of provisions of the JCPOA, despite their purported claim that they would not oppose or undermine the JCPOA; “in practice, these actions violate the provisions,” he added.

Larijani denounced US officials’ remarks about new sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran; “from an Iranian view, the JCPOA was seen as a means to open economic deadlock and to eliminate sanctions; now, they would say that they would eliminate sanctions somewhere and reinstate sanctions in elsewhere. This has been warned about frequently in the past,” he told the session. On visa waiver program, head of the Judiciary believed that the program exemplified US decisions which were the ayatollah aptly called ‘invidious.’

“The decision will have negative consequences. Furthermore, the US confiscation of Iran’s assets in US banks is also considered as such,” he emphasized, calling Iran’s diplomatic machinery to watch closely the conducts of the US officials and the 5+1 members. “The diplomatic paraphernalia should remain on high alert about such actions, since the JCPOA is not an agreement which could have been committed to by only one of the parties to the accord.”

Ayatollah Amoli Larijani then turned to two important elections to be held late-February, believing that elections was the place where people’s vote and democracy were manifest; “all authorities and people should participate in efforts to hold a healthy and enthusiastic event; this would not be realized unless all authorities, electorate, and even candidates observe the law and act accordingly,” he asserted.

He recommended the Guardian Council to respect the rights of the candidates in the process of qualifying them for being nominees; “we generally recommend the Council to prevent individuals which the Council disqualifies from entering the elections process. The supervisory role of the Council is constitutional which it acts on behalf of the people,” Ayatollah Amoli Larijani said.

“The Council has demonstrated well in its record of the past that it has set aside all partisan sentiments and petty factionalism in its persistence on acting upon the law,” said he about the Guardian Council.