Iran deal to last only if all sides comply: Khoshroo

Iran’s envoy to the United Nations says the multi-lateral nuclear deal between the country and five other states will last only if all sides to the agreement comply with their contractual obligations.

Ambassador to the UN Gholam-Ali Khoshroo made the remark on Monday, addressing a UN General Assembly meeting to discuss an annual report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog.

The IAEA’s chief, Yukiya Amano, submitted the report to the Assembly, detailing its activities over the past year. The IAEA is tasked with monitoring the technical implementation of the Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was struck between the Islamic Republic and the US, Britain, Russia, France and China plus Germany last year.

“At a time when the Agency and all sides to the JCPOA have verified that Iran has fully lived up to its JCPOA obligations, other sides [too] are obligated to fulfill their commitments in a real sense and refrain from [taking] any action that contradicts the letter, spirit, and intent of the agreement,” Khoshroo said in his General Assembly speech.

Since the implementation of the deal in January 2015, the IAEA has consistently verified Iranian compliance.

Khoshroo said, “Although Iran has remained and will remain fully committed to the JCPOA as a multilateral agreement, in order for the deal’s permanence to be guaranteed, all concerned parties, and not only Iran, will be required to fulfill all JCPOA commitment in a complete and timely fashion.”

Such inclusive compliance, he said, would be to the benefit of the sides to the agreement as well as the international community.

The US Congress has recently voted to extend a piece of anti-Iran legislation known as the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA), extending the US president’s authority to impose potential sanctions on Iran for another 10 years.