JCPOA Binding for US Administrations: Iranian MP
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian lawmaker described the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a nuclear agreement between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), as an international treaty that the next US administration will have to honor.
No matter who holds office at the White House, the US is bound to honor commitments under the JCPOA, Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi told reporters at Shalamcheh border crossing, west of Iran, on Thursday.
As regards the fate of the nuclear deal during presidency of Republican Donald Trump, he said the US president-elect does not appear to be the same Trump as the one in the election campaign.
Boroujerdi then pointed to Iran’s reaction to any breach of the nuclear deal, making a reference to comments by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei that any violation of the deal by the US will trigger Tehran’s harsher response.
In March, during a speech to the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC, Trump, who won a stunning victory in the US presidential election on Wednesday, said his “number-one priority” would be to “dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.”
In August 2015, he said he would not “rip up” the nuclear deal, but that he would “police that contract so tough they (Iran) don’t have a chance.”
While many consider the JCPOA a major breakthrough in the improvement of ties between Iran and the West, Ayatollah Khamenei has made it clear that Tehran’s policy toward the US will remain unchanged regardless of the nuclear deal.
The accord took effect in January and was supposed to terminate all nuclear-related sanctions against Iran all at once, but its implementation has been hampered mainly due to US policies.
