Iran warns of reciprocation over JCPOA breach

Iran warns of reciprocation over JCPOA breach

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic Republic will respond in kind if the P5+1 group fails to fulfill its commitments under a landmark nuclear agreement clinched in July 2015.

In a letter to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Monday, Rouhani stressed that his administration will keep a watchful eye on the opposite side’s compliance with its commitments stipulated in the agreement, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to “foil enemies’ attempts to take advantage of the agreement to infiltrate” the country, Press TV reported.

"The administration… is determined to precisely and seriously monitor the fulfillment of the opposite side’s commitments and will, through prudent realism and far from any extreme optimism, take reciprocal measure in case of any renege on promises,” Rouhani said.

The president expressed gratitude to the Leader for his support during the nuclear negotiations and enumerated the achievements that the JCPOA has brought for the Islamic Republic.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini read out a joint statement in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on Saturday, announcing that the JCPOA had indeed come into force.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – plus Germany had finalized the JCPOA in Vienna on July 14, 2015.

Rouhani underlined that the Iranian nation’s right to peaceful nuclear technology has been restored and that the world has recognized Tehran’s nuclear program on an industrial scale.

The letter also reads that under the JCPOA, Iran will continue uranium enrichment as “the most sensitive and important part” of its nuclear program.

The Arak heavy water reactor will also be modernized into a research reactor in line with international cooperation, the letter said.

Rouhani also said that the nuclear agreement thwarted efforts by enemies of Iran to depict a "false" image of Islamic Revolution.

 

IAEA implementation

 

Visiting Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano said on Monday that the UN nuclear body attaches great importance to implementation of the JCPOA.

Talking in a press conference with Head of Atomic Energy Agency of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi, he added, “This trend has just started and future developments need time.”

According to IRNA, Amano described his meeting with Salehi as “fruitful”.

Amano reiterated that Iran and the IAEA have agreed to reinforce cooperation in the future.

Amano arrived in Tehran on Sunday on his first visit after the beginning of the implementation of the landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the AEOI, said on Sunday that Amano’s visit comes at the invitation of Iran.

“In the JCPOA, the implementation process is estimated to be eight years but we want to accomplish this sooner and this is doable through cooperation between Iran and the IAEA.”

Kamalvandi stressed that Amano will not visit any nuclear site in Iran.

The IAEA confirmed that Iran had remained committed to its nuclear agreement with the P5+1 with Amano announcing that Iran had taken the “necessary preparatory steps to start the implementation of the JCPOA”.

The announcement was made after "inspectors on the ground verified that Iran has carried out all measures required under the (July deal)... to enable Implementation Day to occur," he said in a statement.

The certification by the UN nuclear agency paves the way for the JCPOA to go into effect.

Comments