Ban’s report on Iran against JCPOA, prepped under ‘political pressure’

An Iranian Foreign Ministry official says the UN chief’s recent report to the Security Council on the country’s nuclear agreement with world powers was prepared under political pressure.

The unnamed Iranian official was quoted by IRNA as saying on Friday that the biannual report by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who has never participated in the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, contains issues that are in clear contradiction to the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The official made the remarks in response to the confidential report, which was cited by Reuters on Thursday. The report quoted the UN chief as saying that Iran's ballistic missile launches “are not consistent with the constructive spirit” of the JCPOA.

Ban also said that it is up to the UN Security Council to decide if Iran’s missile launches violated the resolution the Security Council adopted last year as part of the nuclear agreement.

"I call upon Iran to refrain from conducting such ballistic missile launches since they have the potential to increase tensions in the region," the UN chief wrote in his first bi-annual report to the 15-member Security Council on the implementation of remaining sanctions and restrictions. The council will reportedly discuss the report on July 18.

However, the Iranian Foreign Ministry official expressed hope that the Reuters report would not be true.

The official urged Ban not to offer interpretations that do not comply with the JCPOA text and are merely the outcome of political pressure by certain permanent members of the Security Council.

The official also called on the UN chief to present a “realistic and fair” report on Washington's failure to fulfill its JCPOA obligations as attested by all countries that have resumed economic cooperation with Iran.

SS