JCPOA Parties Trying to Make Up for US Withdrawal: Iran’s Araqchi

TEHRAN– Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Seyed Abbas Araqchi said Tehran and the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) are planning to make up for the US exit from the accord.

Speaking to reporters in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Monday night, Araqchi said after the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, the remaining parties are trying to develop operational solutions so that the unilateral sanctions against Iran would not negatively affect the proper implementation of the deal, Tasnim News reported.

 “Iran is currently designing solutions in cooperation with Europe, Russia, China and its other trading partners, so that the parties can keep the cooperation and trade paths open and create new opportunities for (closer) relations,” he said.

The European Union has vowed to counter US President Donald Trump’s renewed sanctions on Iran, including by means of a new law to shield European companies from punitive measures.

On May 8, the US president pulled his country out of the JCPOA, the nuclear deal that was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

Following the US exit, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.

Trump on August 6 signed an executive order re-imposing many sanctions on Iran, three months after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.

He said the US policy is to levy “maximum economic pressure” on the country.

The second batch of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic took effect on November 4.

M.Wassouf