Speaking at a weekly press conference on Monday, Saeed Khatibzadeh said Iran welcomes the Qatari government’s help in saving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“Qatar is one of Iran’s regional friends and partners. There have been close consultations between Iran and Qatar at different levels,” he added.
Tehran welcomes any effort to reduce the tensions, but the fulfillment of commitments by the US needs no messages, he underlined.
The US can easily begin to honor the JCPOA, Khatibzadeh noted, saying, “It’s a pity that the current (US) administration has become an accomplice in the previous administration’s violation of commitments. This is not a constructive approach and must end.”
The spokesman denounced Joe Biden’s administration for following in the footsteps of Donald Trump, saying the situation is not any different from before January 20, as Washington has maintained the same “maximum pressure and crimes” against the Iranian nation.
He described the unchanged policies by the new US administration as a disgrace to the politicians whose election campaign was based on the pledge to shift Trump’s policies.
The JCPOA was signed in 2015 between Iran and six world states —the US, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China— and was ratified in the form of Resolution 2231.
However, Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the JCPOA in May 2018 and reinstated the sanctions that had been lifted by the deal.
In May 2019, Iran began to scale back its JCPOA commitments after the remaining European parties failed to fulfill their end of the bargain and compensate for Washington’s absence.
In remarks on February 7, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said Iran will resume honoring the JCPOA in full only after the US has removed all sanctions on Tehran in a practical and verifiable manner.