Zarif on Biden’s Choices: Go Down Trump’s Path or Return to JCPOA

By Staff, Agencies

Iran’s foreign minister says it is the United States that has to return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear agreement because Washington is the party that abandoned the deal and violated its terms, warning the new American administration against building on the failed policies of its predecessor.

“The US left & violated the nuclear deal. So it’s the US that has to return & implement its obligations,” Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Monday.

US President Joe Biden “has a choice,” Zarif said, adding that he can either “build on the failures” of his predecessor Donald Trump or break with his hostile approach and choose a new path in dealing with Iran.

Zarif warned, however, that “building on his failures will only bring further failure.”

In 2015, Iran and six world powers signed the nuclear accord, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA].

In May 2018, however, Washington left the JCPOA, which was also ratified in the form of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, and re-imposed illegal sanctions against Tehran in flagrant violation of the UN document.

The Islamic Republic remained fully compliant with the deal for an entire year, waiting for the co-signatories to fulfill their end of the bargain by offsetting the impacts of Washington’s bans on the Iranian economy.

As the European parties failed to do so, Tehran moved in May 2019 to suspend its JCPOA commitments under the Articles of the agreement covering Tehran’s legal rights.

Iran and the US have recently expressed their willingness to resurrect the accord, but they are both demanding that the other side take the first step.

In a CBS News interview, Biden indicated that Iran would have to stop enriching uranium before his administration would lift sanctions. This is while the JCPOA – which was signed when Biden was vice president – recognizes Iran’s right to uranium enrichment.

Similarly, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN that Iran should make the first move in negotiations over the US return to the JCPOA.

“If Iran returns to compliance ... we would do the same thing” and use the pact as a starting point to form a “longer and stronger agreement” that includes other matters, including Iran’s missile program, he added.