US Failing to Seize Golden Chance for Win-win Bargain on Iran Deal - Rouhani

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has criticized the new US administration’s foot-dragging on a return to compliance with the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran that it abandoned in 2018, saying Washington has so far failed to seize the “golden chance” for a “win-win bargain.”

“As Leader [of the Islamic Revolution His Eminence Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei] announced, if they [the US] return to the JCPOA, Iran will also return to its commitments,” Rouhani said on Thursday, referring to the nuclear deal by the acronym of its formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

“This would mean a win-win bargain for the region and the entire world, which would benefit them. The Americans were not able to understand that and failed to seize this golden opportunity. They have been dragging their feet, and we have been getting messages and news, which show this new [US] administration is far from the reality about Iran,” Rouhani added.

He also said the American officials’ “lack of knowledge” about Iran is ridiculous, adding that if they could get to know the great nation of Iran, its great civilization, and its golden homeland, they would treat the nation with humility.

The fate of the JCPOA, signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries [the US, UK, France, Russia and China plus Germany] after years of diplomacy and intensive negotiations, remains unclear mainly due to the US measures, including its reimposition of sanctions on Tehran.

Current US President Joe Biden has repeatedly spoken of a willingness to rejoin the Iran deal, but, in practice, he has so far been sticking with Trump’s futile pressure campaign. Washington says Tehran should return to full compliance with the deal before the US comes back.

Iran, however, says the US should first lift all the sanctions put in place under the Trump administration before the Islamic Republic returns to full compliance. Tehran believes it was the White House that complicated the circumstances by the pullout, which in turn prompted Iran to take remedial measures.