Iranian MPs to Discuss US Plan for Return to JCPOA

The US’ new plan regarding the 2015 nuclear deal will be mooted at an upcoming meeting of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy commission, an MP said, stressing that Washington’s return to the JCPOA must be conditional on full compliance with the accord.

Speaking to Tasnim on Saturday, chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy commission said the lawmakers are going to discuss a possible return of the US to the JCPOA at a meeting this week.

Mojtaba Zolnoori made it clear that the US will have to fully honor the JCPOA if it intends to return to the agreement, stressing that all of the sanctions that the US has imposed on Iran must be lifted and Washington has to accept the fact that the UN-imposed arms embargo on Iran will be lifted in October.

“The Islamic Republic will agree on the return of the US to the JCPOA when the White House and the Europeans carry out the contents of this international agreement,” he underlined.

Zolnoori also pointed to several options Iran has on the table to scrap the JCPOA in case the Western parties move to resort to the snapback mechanism, saying Tehran may decide to stop implementing the Additional Protocol, review the process of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, or even withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

“Iran has never been eager to pull out of the NPT, unless it has no choice.”

His comments came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he is preparing a legal argument that the US would remain a participant in the JCPOA –already renounced by the US president- as part of an intricate strategy to pressure the UN Security Council to extend an arms embargo on Tehran.

According to Pompeo’s plan, bound to be opposed by many of Washington’s European allies, the US would, in essence, claim it legally remains a “participant state” in the nuclear accord only for the purposes of invoking a “snapback” that would restore the UN sanctions on Iran that were in place before the nuclear deal.

Russia has already told American and European officials it is eager to resume conventional arms sales to Iran.