Zarif: Talks will begin once all JCPOA signatories fulfill their obligations

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tells Press TV that the Islamic Republic will be open to negotiations on reviving the historic 2015 nuclear accord once all signatories begin fulfilling their obligations.

The senior diplomat made the remarks to Press TV’s Marzieh Hashemi on Sunday.

He also said US President Joe Biden has spurned predecessor Donald Trump’s Iran policy in words, but has so far pursued the same course of action in practice.

The Trump administration unilaterally abandoned the nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018, and unleashed what his team called a “maximum pressure campaign” with the stated objective of forcing Iran to negotiate “a better agreement.”

The Islamic Republic refused to bow down to pressure and threats and responded to Trump’s maximum pressure policy with “maximum resistance.”

President Biden has expressed a willingness to bring the US back to the nuclear accord. However, his administration is demanding to see changes from Tehran before Washington would consider lifting the sanctions, as demanded by Iran.

The Islamic Republic insists that as the party that has abandoned its international obligations, the US should take the first step by removing the unlawful bans in a manner that could be verifiable by Tehran.

Zarif told Press TV that the United States has not gained any leverage against Iran through its unlawful sanctions, adding that on the contrary the restrictive measures have only helped Iran diversify its economy away from oil.

‘Iran not violating JCPOA, only implementing remedial measures’

The top diplomat reminded that Paragraph 36 of the JCPOA enables Iran to take “remedial action” against failure by other sides to implement their obligations.

Separately, Zarif said that the Israeli regime possesses the Dimona nuclear facility, which he called the sole “nuclear bomb factory” in West Asia.

Yet, a recent report by The Guardian about secret expansion of the facility was not met by even “expression of concern” on the part of the US or its European allies.

Therefore, while the Israeli regime is allowed to go ahead with such non-conventional activities, any talk about concern about Iran’s peaceful nuclear energy program is “nonsense,” Zarif said.

ME