New US administration will have to abide by JCPOA: Zarif

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has criticized the new US administration for failing to fully live up to its commitments under the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, saying the White House would finally have to abide by the deal.

“Unfortunately the behavior from the new administration in Washington is not very promising," Zarif told reporters after a meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende in Oslo on Mondaym, Press TV reported.

“But, we believe that at the end of the day they [US administration] will find it necessary to abide by the deal and we believe the rest of the international community will make it clear…that it considers the deal as a multilateral agreement and not a bilateral agreement between Iran and the United States,” the Iranian minister added.

During his presidential campaign, US President Donald Trump had promised to repeal the nuclear accord which he referred to as a "disaster" and "the worst deal ever negotiated."

Zarif expressed regret that the US has "not lived up fully" to its commitments under the JCPOA and said, “We believe that the nuclear agreement is the result of multilateral processes endorsed by the Security Council.”

As verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) time and again, Iran has been committed to the nuclear deal, he said.

Zarif added that the JCPOA had proved to be an “important achievement” for the international community in reducing tensions and in preventing an unnecessary crisis from happening.

Iran wants to have positive relations with all neighbors

In response to a question on Iran sending aid to Qatar amid rising tensions between Doha and Saudi Arabia, Zarif said, “We always want to have positive relations with all your neighbors” without excluding any of our neighbors.

He added that what Iran is sending for Qatar was actually within normal trade between the two countries and was not considered as aid by Iran.

Zarif hopes US would pursue diplomacy in Syria

The Iranian foreign minister once again emphasized that no military approach could solve the Syria crisis and expressed hope that the new US administration would come to the conclusion that the “military option was not the solution [to the issue] and would only lead to the intensification of tension and differences.”

“Iran has always been ready to offer assistance to reach a political solution [for Syria crisis],” Zarif added.

Zarif further noted that the Islamic Republic believes that Iran, Russia and Syria must proceed with their trilateral cooperation to solve the Syria crisis.

SS