Iran’s Velayati: US Extension of Sanctions Clear Breach of JCPOA
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Head of the Strategic Research Center of Iran’s Expediency Council Ali Akbar Velayati denounced a recent move by the US Congress to extend anti-Tehran sanctions for 10 years as a clear violation of the JCPOA, a nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world powers.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Velayati pointed to a legislation recently passed by the US congress to extend the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA), and said the measure is a breach of the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and world powers in July 2015.
If the US president signs the legislation into law and finalize it, the measure would be a clear violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), he said.
That is because in the negotiations between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), the Americans had pledged not to take any measure contrary to the spirit of the JCPOA, added Velayati, who is also a senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.
The measure passed the US Senate by 99-0 on Thursday. It passed the House of Representatives nearly unanimously in November, and congressional aides said they expected President Barack Obama would sign it.
Meanwhile, a senior lawmaker on Friday said Iran’s parliament is weighing a series of measures in response to the US Congress.
Bahrouz Nemati, spokesman for parliament’s presiding board, said some 220 lawmakers have prepared a resolution which condemns US extension of the sanctions.
A two-starred motion on prohibiting US-made products is also moving through the chamber for approval, Nemati added.
The parliament is expected to take other counter-measures against the ISA extension which he did not specify.
While the JCPOA, the nuclear agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) came into force in January, some Iranian officials complain about the US failure to fully implement the accord.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said last month that if the sanctions were extended, Iran would definitely respond to it.
