Moscow: The new administration of the United States must prove its bona fides and lift sanctions imposed on Iran for Tehran to resume full compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, presumed US President-elect Joe Biden told The New York Times that the United States might rejoin the nuclear deal, known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), if Iran returns to full compliance.
“[Iran] has proven its bona fides in 15 consecutive reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency, including five that were issued after President Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA. So our bona fides are very clear. The United States needs to reestablish its bona fides — it never established it — it needs to even establish the bona fides for the first time, and then Iran will go back to full compliance with the JCPOA”
Zarif said during a MED 2020 virtual conference.
The Iranian foreign minister stressed that the United States does not have to be a member of the JCPOA to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that provided for the removal of international sanctions from Iran as long as the JCPOA remains in effect.
According to Zarif, US sanctions have resulted not only in USD 250 billion economic loss, but also countless Iranian lives that were lost during the coronavirus pandemic due to the country’s limited ability to implement a proper lockdown while under economic restrictions.
The Iranian minister addressed the expectation to Biden specifically, posting on Twitter that the new US administration must “prove ITS [bona fides] by complying fully with UNSCR 2231 & ceasing Trump’s #EconomicWar against Iranians.“
“At that time, Iran will reverse its remedial actions under #JCPOA,” the minister added.
The JCPOA was signed in 2015 by Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union, stipulating the removal of international sanctions from Tehran in exchange for it scaling down its nuclear program.
The original deal was short-lived as the US unilaterally withdrew in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran to which the latter responded by gradually abandoning its own commitments.
The JCPOA Joint Commission is scheduled to meet on December 16.