Iran to Change Its Approach If EU Fails to Act on JCPOA: Deputy FM

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi said the country will change its approach if other parties to the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers continue to fail to meet their commitments.

The recent developments concerning the nuclear accord, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), had taught Iran, inter alia, that “the result of this agreement and commitment to it (for Iran) has been coming under new sanctions,” Araqchi told the Dutch NRC website on Thursday.

“Should things continue to proceed like this, we too may be forced to change our approach,” he added.

Araqchi said the country had paid its dues as it is contractually required to under the agreement, adding, “Now, it is the other JCPOA parties’ turn to do the same.”

“We accepted to limit our nuclear program but were made a target of the US maximum pressure (campaign) in return. In such circumstances, the JCPOA’s other partners are bound to think up practical approaches to extricate Iran from the sanctions,” the official noted.

European countries, he added, claim they seek to save the agreement, but so far, they have actually shown that they are either incapable or disinclined to resist the US dominance over Europe’s financial system to protect it.

Britain, France and Germany have sought to salvage the pact, under which Iran undertook to curtail its uranium enrichment program in return for relief from sanctions, since the United States withdrew last year.

But the three European powers have failed to make good on the trade and investment dividends promised to Iran under the deal.

The EU’s inaction forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments to the nuclear deal, including a rise in the stockpile of enriched uranium.

Iran maintains that the measures are not designed to harm the JCPOA but to save the accord by creating a balance in the commitments.

The remaining parties to the JCPOA meet in Vienna on December 6 to discuss how to move forward.

The mechanism involves a party referring a dispute to a Joint Commission comprising Iran, Russia, China, the three European powers, and the European Union and then on to the UN Security Council if that commission cannot resolve it.