In a meeting with Italy’s ambassador to Tehran Giuseppe Perrone on Tuesday, Qalibaf said he was surprised by the unseemly and strange move by the UK, France and Germany that have called on the Iranian government not to enforce the law on strategic action for the lifting of sanctions and safeguarding national interests.
The new law has been ratified and circulated, as the Parliament, the administration, and the Judiciary insist on its implementation, he added, noting that the new decision is not tantamount to withdrawal from the JCPOA.
Qalibaf also urged Italy not to allow the three EU states to adopt stances on behalf of the entire Europe, taking a swipe at the UK, France and Germany for refusing to condemn the recent assassination of eminent Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
In a joint statement on Monday, Britain, France, and Germany described the JCPOA as “a key achievement of multilateral diplomacy”, asking Iran not to act on a pending parliamentary measure that would restrict the UN nuclear agency’s access to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities.
“We, the governments of France, Germany and the United Kingdom have worked tirelessly to preserve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It is a key achievement of multilateral diplomacy and the global non-proliferation architecture,” the three European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal, which have so far failed to honor their commitments under the agreement, said in the joint statement.
A double-urgency draft bill was recently approved in the Iranian Parliament. The measure has mandated the government to limit the UN nuclear watchdog’s regulatory access, and tasked it with empowering the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program further in retaliation for the Western non-commitment to the nuclear accord.
Iran has so far rowed back on its nuclear commitments in compliance with Articles 26 and 36 of the JCPOA after the US withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and reinstated the anti-Iran sanctions and Europe failed to honor its obligations.
The Islamic Republic has repeatedly voiced its readiness to reverse the suspension of its commitments under the multilateral nuclear deal if other parties return to the accord and abide by their own obligations.