Nuclear Deal Parties Resolved to Stand up to US Departure: Zarif

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says all the remaining signatories to a 2015 landmark nuclear agreement have political will to stand up to the United States’ move to withdraw from the deal.

Zarif made the remarks while addressing reporters in the Austrian capital Vienna on Friday following a meeting with his counterparts from Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia for the first time since US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out from the nuclear accord, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in May, according to Press TV.

 The US president announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the nuclear agreement and that he plans to reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose “the highest level” of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.

Zarif pointed to his “very serious and constructive” talks with the remaining parties of the nuclear deal and said, “I believe that there is political will to continue work and save this agreement but we must see what will happen to this issue in practice.”

However, he warned that if the European sides fail to properly fulfill their commitments, Iran would take its own measures to counter the US withdrawal from the JCPOA.

The top Iranian diplomat said the participants at the Vienna meeting agreed to take “good measures” to save the JCPOA.

H.M