Iran ready to return to JCPOA, Rouhani said
-
Alaina
- . December 10, 2020
- . Update: December 12, 2020 9:09 pm
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Iran is ready to return “at any time” to full compliance with the commitments made to the international community regarding its nuclear activities, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The agreement signed in Vienna in 2015 with the “5 + 1” group brings together China, the United States, France, Great Britain, Russia, and Germany. According to the text of the JCPOA, Iran has agreed to significantly reduce its nuclear activities in exchange for a relaxation of the international sanctions imposed on it by Europe and the United States.
The international agreement is in danger of collapsing since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country in May 2018, before re-imposing sanctions that plunged the Islamic Republic into a deep economic recession. In response to Trump’s provocative decision, Iran, starting in May 2019, reduced its key-commitments to this nuclear deal. All of this has provoked mixed reactions, with the European Union doing everything possible to save the nuclear deal and avoid further escalation.
“At any time, as soon as the 5 + 1, or 4 + 1 without the United States, will return to all their commitments, we too will return to respect the agreements we have made,” Rouhani said during a speech to the Iranian government broadcast yesterday live on television.
The Iranian leader added: “I have already said that returning to the nuclear deal does not require the element of time, but rather will and determination.” Despite criticism from Iranian extremist conservatives, Rouhani stressed his desire for a diplomatic exit from the crisis resulting from the US withdrawal from the Vienna Agreement. All that is missing is the opportunity represented by the change of the US president in January.
The Iranian Shura Council, dominated by conservatives since the elections in February 2020, which saw a high rate of abstention from the election, on December 2, contrary to the recommendations of the government, adopted a law that, if implemented, could defer the dossier nuclear power to the United Nations Security Council, undermining this pending treaty.It is up to the President of the Islamic Republic, Hassan Rouhani, to sign the text for the entry into force of the law, approved by the Council of Guardians. Rouhani hinted on Wednesday that he does not intend to sign this decree for the moment, giving hope for a positive evolution of the story.
