Iran atomic agency spox says remaining in JCPOA better than leaving it

TEHRAN– Behrooz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran(AEOI) has said that remaining in the nuclear deal is better than withdrawing from it, adding the EU avoids conflict with US over Iran sanctions.

“Anyway, the impact of sanctions cannot be ignored, but if Iran stays in the JCPOA, the sanctions, both politically or economically speaking, will not be as effective as the previous round since many small and medium-sized countries could not do business with Iran due to EU and UN sanctions but this time they are able to cooperate [with Iran] despite the US pressures,” Behrooz Kamalvandi said in an interview with Iranian Students News Agency ISNA today, Mehr News reported.

“As our country’s leaders have vowed we should keep fighting on this battlefield to make the Americans realize that the sanctions will not succeed,” the AEOI spokesman added.

“I personally believe that remaining in the JCPOA is better than leaving it though other Establishment officials may have different views in that regard, which will be announced later when the time arrives. As Henry Kissinger has said the JCPOA withdrawal has created a gap in the United States, on the one hand and between the US and the EU on the other hand” he continued.

He also said that the JCPOA put an end to six Security Council resolutions.

Elsewhere in the interview, the nuclear spokesman cast doubt on the European countries’ ability to thoroughly resist US pressures and to protect Iran economy because “no one can deny that the world economy is not imaginable with the United States given its role in the financial, banking, industrial and technological systems.”

Meanwhile, he said that the Europeans will have to be tough and decisive against the United States not only for sake of their economic interests but also for protecting their independent identity.

M.Wassouf