JCPOA Cancellation to Have ‘Profound Consequences’, US Spokesman Warns
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – US State Department Spokesman Mark Toner warned that the dismantling of a lasting nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers by US President-elect Donald Trump will have “profound consequences”.
“Any party — and I’m speaking very hypothetically here, because I don’t want in any way to attempt to hypothesize about what the incoming administration’s going to do — I’m just talking purely about an agreement that any party can walk away from,” Mark Toner said early on Friday as cited by AP.
“And that will have profound consequences on the integrity of the agreement,” he added.
Toner said that the Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), would fall apart if a US administration walked away from it, as Trump has vowed to do.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), reached the comprehensive nuclear deal in July 2015 and it was implemented in January 2016.
He stressed that it was in Washington’s interest to continue it.
During the election campaign, Trump described the deal as “disastrous” and said it would be his “number one priority” to dismantle it.
After Trump’s winning the election, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran expects the new US administration respect the nuclear deal.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Monday that the future US president must remain committed to the JCPOA.
