Iran’s Zarif Shrugs Off Trump’s Remarks on JCPOA
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed as unimportant recent remarks by US President Donald Trump on the possibility of Washington not remaining in the July 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet session in Tehran on Wednesday, Zarif rejected Trump’s comments on JCPOA and said, “Do not pay much attention to Trump’s words.”
In comments published Sunday, Trump said it was “possible” that the US would not remain in the nuclear deal.
“I believe they have broken the spirit of the agreement,” Trump told the Associated Press. “There is a spirit to agreements, and they have broken it.”
Trump had earlier made the same accusation against Iran Thursday. In response, Zarif said Washington itself has not remained committed to the text of the JCPOA, let alone to its spirit.
“We’ll see if US (is) prepared to live up to letter of the JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) let alone (to its) spirit. So far, it (the US) has defied both,” Zarif said in a post on his official twitter account on Friday.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) on July 14, 2015, reached a conclusion over the text of the JCPOA. The accord took effect in January 2016 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.
