Iran open to find ways forward on JCPOA - Zarif

By Voon Miaw Ping

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 30 -- Iran will not renegotiate its part in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but is open to talks with all parties concerned to find ways forward in fulfilling the obligations, said Iran's Foreign Minister Dr Mohammad Javad Zarif.

He urged other European members of the accord to fully commit to the agreement – also known as Iran nuclear deal – adding that Iran “will remain faithful to this deal, to the same extent other members are faithful to this deal". 

"We are ready to talk and consult with others on how to best implement this deal. We are talking about Europe coming to comply with its own obligations under the deal.

“If they need to engage with the United States themselves in order to be able to comply with the obligation, then that’s something they would do and Iran would not have any role in it,” he said this in an exclusive interview with Bernama during his one-day official visit here, Thursday.

Zarif, who was Iran's chief negotiator in the deal, said it had been carefully negotiated and that it was impossible to renegotiate the deal.

"We (have) already talked to the US extensively for over two years and we've reached a conclusion ... that was 159-page long... it is a serious agreement, (including) almost all aspects of the nuclear issues as well as the aspect of the US sanctions against Iran,” he said. 

He said while Iran is complying to it and Russia and China were complying to most of the agreement, other members were not seen to be able to comply or ‘do not have the political will to comply’ following the United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the agreement last year. 

US President Donald Trump, in making the announcement in May 2018, had described the deal as a 'rotting and decaying structure' and urged Iran for renewed talks on the latter's missile programmes as well as its regional role.

“These issues are not part of the deal. We had agreed that in order to reach an agreement on the nuclear issue, we had to limit it to nuclear issue and we had also agreed that if we reach progress in implementing the nuclear deal, it will give the confidence to move in to other issues.

“But the US had failed, it cannot make compliance with the nuclear deal contingent upon issues that are not included in the agreement,” Zarif said.

He alleged US withdrawal from the deal was due to Trump's personal reasons. 

“He (Trump) doesn't like (former President Barack) Obama's legacy, he just wants to withdraw from the deal because of personal reasons, not because of some substantial reasons,” he said. 

The agreement, which was adopted later in 2015, was signed by Iran and the United States together with China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom.

-- BERNAMA