President Rouhani rules out renegotiating JCPOA

President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday dismissed as absurd the idea that the July 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the 5+1 group can be renegotiated.

“(Holding) new negotiations (on the deal) is meaningless,” Rouhani said at a press conference in Tehran held on the first anniversary of the implementation of the nuclear agreement between Iran and the 5+1 group (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

According to Tasnim news agency, he made the remarks in response to a question about Iran’s response to US President-elect Donald Trump who has threatened to either scrap the agreement or renegotiate it and seek a better deal.

Negotiations that led to the agreement took a long time, the president noted, adding that returning to the past will make no sense.

"There will be no (new) negotiations on the JCPOA," he underscored, adding that the deal has been reached and is virtually an international document.  

He also stressed that Trump's remarks about the nuclear deal are just propaganda, adding that the next US president will not be able to abandon the deal unilaterally when he enters the White House.

Rouhani went on to say that he believes it is unlikely to happen as the JCPOA is not a bilateral agreement.

ME