US in No Position to Discuss JCPOA-Related Issues: Tehran

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Ministry said the United States, that quit the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers in 2018, is by no means in a position to address issues related to the international deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA].

“The United States hates the JCPOA and has abandoned it,” the ministry said in a tweet on Thursday on the anniversary of the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal.

It added that Washington continues to violate the agreement and punish those who have remained committed to it.

“The US is in no position to raise and address issues related to the JCPOA by any means,” the ministry stressed.

Washington re-imposed its sanctions on Iran in May 2018 after unilaterally withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers that has been endorsed by the UN Security Council.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced recently that Washington is preparing a legal argument that the US would remain a participant in the JCPOA –already renounced by US President Donald Trump- as part of an intricate strategy to pressure the Security Council to extend an arms embargo on Tehran.

According to Pompeo’s plan, bound to be opposed by many of Washington’s European allies, the US would, in essence, claim it legally remains a “participant state” in the nuclear accord only for the purposes of invoking a “snapback” that would restore the UN sanctions on Iran that were in place before the nuclear deal.