Iranian Speaker Hammers US Counterpart for False Claims on JCPOA
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani rejected claims by US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan who accused Iran of violating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after the US lawmakers passed a bill renewing sanctions on Iran for 10 years.
Addressing a parliament session on Tuesday, Larijani described Ryan’s claim that Iran has violated the JCPOA -a nuclear agreement between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany)- as a tactic to justify his own “irrational and irresponsible measures.”
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.
After that, Ryan (R-WI) issued a statement, accusing Iran of sponsoring terrorism and violating the nuclear agreement.
The Iranian speaker, in response, reminded Ryan of American officials’ repeated acknowledgements that Iran has lived up to its commitments under the JCPOA.
“All of the officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, the United Nations secretary-general and even the US officials acknowledge that Iran has remained committed to the nuclear deal,” Larijani underlined.
Apart from passing the ISA bill, the US 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.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi has announced that it is still early for a judgement about the recent anti-Iran bills that are under discussion in the US Congress, stressing that Tehran has its own options for responding to any violation of the nuclear accord.
