Rouhani to Macron: Failure to Save JCPOA to Complicate Impasse

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on the parties to the 2015 nuclear deal not to miss the remaining chances to revive the landmark agreement, warning that any “unconstructive” move at the UN nuclear watchdog’s upcoming board meeting will complicate the stalemate surrounding the accord.

“Any unconstructive move or stance at the [International Atomic Energy Agency’s] Board of Governors can lead to new challenges and complicate the existing situation,” Rouhani said in a phone call with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday.

The IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors is holding a quarterly meeting this week against the backdrop of efforts to preserve the multilateral nuclear agreement — officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] — that former US president Donald Trump abandoned.

The three European parties to the JCPOA — Britain, France and Germany — have reportedly circulated a US-backed draft resolution for the upcoming meeting voicing “serious concern” at Iran’s reduced cooperation and urging Iran to reverse the steps it has taken away from the deal in response to the US withdrawal and the re-imposition of the sanctions that the accord had lifted.

Iran has warned against the adoption of the anti-Iran resolution, with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif saying that the Islamic Republic has some options to take in case “reason does not prevail” on the other side.

Rouhani said Iran first decided to gradually scale back its JCPOA commitments due to the US withdrawal and the three European parties’ failure to fulfill their obligations as per the deal.

He, however, emphasized that Iran’s remedial measures will be immediately reversed if the opposite sides comply with their obligations.

Although Iran stopped implementing the Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT] as required by a law adopted last December, “Our cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency still continues and we have never exited the JCPOA,” Rouhani stated.

As the US refrained from lifting sanctions before the February 21 deadline set by Tehran, Iran announced that the country stopped the voluntary implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement that allowed the IAEA to carry out short-notice inspections of the country’s nuclear facilities.

The halt came under the Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions, a law passed last December by the Iranian Parliament requiring the administration to tighten its retaliatory measures.

On the day of the deadline, however, Tehran and the IAEA reached “a temporary bilateral technical understanding,” as part of which the UN nuclear watchdog would continue its “necessary verification and monitoring activities for a period of up to three months.”

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the Islamic Republic had agreed to keep recording information on its inspection equipment for three months without granting the IAEA access.

Macron, for his part, said preservation of the JCPOA is a necessity for the international community and called for the continuation of negotiations about all sides’ full return to compliance with the deal.

He added that Europe is ready to play a more active role within the next weeks to maintain the JCPOA.