Iran Braced for US Breach of JCPOA: Nuclear Chief
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran has drawn up plans to react to any possible violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) by the US, saying those scenarios could not be made public.
Iran has made the necessary preparations for reversibility of commitments under the nuclear deal with the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) if the other side violates the agreement, Salehi told reporters on Monday.
As regards a recent controversial decision by the US House of Representatives to pass a bill renewing sanctions on Iran for 10 years, Salehi said the bill still needs to be endorsed by the Senate and the US president, but emphasized that its implementation will “definitely” amount to a breach of the JCPOA.
Iran had figured out from the very beginning of the nuclear talks what to do if the JCPOA is scrapped one day, because the other side is not trustworthy, he explained.
Though Iran is not willing to see any “damage to the JCPOA”, it would provoke a reaction, the AEOI chief underlined, adding that the country can regain a significant capacity to enrich uranium within a span of a year and half.
His comments came after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said Washington’s plans to renew sanctions against Iran would be a breach of the JCPOA, dismissing the notion that it will not be new sanctions but renewal of previous sanctions.
“There is no difference between starting a sanction and restarting it after it expires and the second one also constitutes a violation of previous commitments by the other party (to the JCPOA),” the Leader said on Sunday.
