US Says Won’t Violate JCPOA: Iranian Spokesman
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi said Americans have told other parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that extending Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) for another decade is not going to violate the nuclear deal in practice.
In an interview with IRIB, Kamalvandi gave more details of the most recent session of the JCPOA joint commission - a group tasked with monitoring commitments to the nuclear deal between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Representatives from Iran, the Group 5+1 and the European Union gathered in Vienna on Tuesday to address Iran’s complaint about a US congressional bill extending the ISA.
In December 2016, the US Senate voted 99-0 to extend the ISA for another decade. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives nearly unanimously in November. The renewal of ISA took effect on December 15 with a procedural protest from President Barack Obama, who decided to let the legislation become law without his signature.
In the Vienna meeting, Kamalvandi said, American officials promised all the participants that the ISA extension is not going to have any practical effect in violation of the JCPOA.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the spokesman said the JCPOA Joint Commission members have approved of a plan that will see Iran receive a huge shipment of natural uranium from abroad.
AP had earlier quoted two senior diplomats as saying that the transfer foresees delivery of 116 metric tons (nearly 130 tons) of natural uranium from Russia to Iran.
UN Security Council approval is needed but a formality, considering five of those powers are permanent Security Council members, they said.
