Worsening Situation Output of US’ Unilateralism

"The current situation is a result of the US' unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA, and the only solution is the lifting of sanctions and return to diplomacy," Araqchi said on Monday, speaking at a special panel of the 1st Tokyo Global Dialogue Summits in the Japanese capital.

The deputy foreign minister defended Iran’s move to scale back its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal in the face of the US pullout, saying Iran is not the one to blame for these commitment cuts.

"Despite the US withdrawal from the JCPOA and the fact that Iran's interests were not met by implementing the deal, Iran remained in the JCPOA for a year before starting its commitment cuts, upon the request of other parties who insisted they would compensate for the US withdrawal," the senior diplomat noted.

"However, the European countries failed to fulfill their commitments," Araqchi added.

"No one should question Iran for reducing its commitments under the JCPOA," he stressed, saying the measures are aimed at saving the accord.

He underlined that the Islamic Republic’s move is not tantamount to quitting the agreement.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled his country out of the international deal, in defiance of global criticism, and later re-imposed the sanctions that had been lifted against Tehran as part of the agreement.

In response to the move, Tehran has so far rowed back on its nuclear commitments four times in compliance with Articles 26 and 36, but stressed that its retaliatory measures will be reversible as soon as Europe finds practical ways to shield the mutual trade from the sanctions.

Before heading to Japan, on Sunday, Araqchi had a 4-hour meeting with his Chinese counterpart Ma Zhaoxu. After meeting with Ma, Araqchi said that Beijing has reassured Tehran that it is firmly after preserving the JCPOA, and against the US unilateral measures.

In a joint press conference with Araqchi on the same day, Ma called on European countries to speed up the implementation of the INSTEX trade mechanism for Iran, while urging the US to return to the nuclear deal and lift sanctions against Iran.

Iran and China will make every effort to preserve the nuclear deal (JCPOA), the Chinese diplomat said, while attributing the current unfavorable situation around the JCPOA to the US’ withdrawal from the agreement and its ‘maximum pressure’ policy on Tehran.

Ma then referred to his earlier meeting with Araqchi, saying the two sides reached a proper consensus on the current status of the JCPOA.

“Preserving the JCPOA requires respecting multilateralism, the rule of law and refraining from unilateralism and hegemony,” he added.

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