Iran Ready for ‘Appropriate Action’ on US Breach of JCPOA
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – It is still early for a judgement about the recent anti-Iran bills that are under discussion in the US Congress, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said, stressing that Tehran has its own options for responding to any violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Iran does not take the US congressional plans serious, but is prepared to take retaliatory action, Bahram Qassemi said on Monday.
Tehran will wait until the end of the legal process of the anti-Iran bills in the US Congress, he explained, noting that Iran has its own plans and options for taking appropriate action whenever necessary.
“We will not compromise on the interests of our people and country, and will pay the price to protect these interests if necessary,” the spokesman underscored.
On November 15, US lawmakers passed a bill renewing sanctions on Iran for 10 years. The House of Representatives voted 419 to one for a 10-year reauthorization of the Iran Sanctions Act, or ISA, a law first adopted in 1996 to punish investments in Iran’s energy industry.
On Thursday, the House passed another bill that would block the sale of commercial aircraft to Iran, a bid to stop sales by Boeing and Airbus that have already been approved by President Barack Obama’s administration.
However, the White House has said Obama would veto the measure even if it did pass the Senate. The US administration believes the legislation would be a violation of the JCPOA, a nuclear agreement between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Elsewhere in his comments, the spokesman reiterated Iran’s commitment to implementing the JCPOA.
“We will remain committed to the JCPOA as long as the other (parties) do so,” he went on to say.
While many consider the JCPOA a major breakthrough in the improvement of ties between Iran and the West, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali 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.
