Former Iran MP: JCPOA dead, Russia using Iran as ‘accomplice’

In a detailed interview with the Tehran-based Entekhab news website, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the former head of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, discussed the recent regional and international developments since Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian took office on July 30.

He said, “This fall, most of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) sanctions and its clauses will be expired, and the agreement will be over by next year.”

Falahatpisheh, a political science university professor, said if the US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris wins the upcoming election, Iran will face the continuation of the current policies, and in case her Republican rival Donald Trump wins, he will have to sit down for talks for a new deal.

He noted Russia was one of the major reasons behind the failure of the talks to revive the JCOPA during the former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi’s tenure, explaining the Russian foreign minister sought to use Iran as a bridge for Moscow’s victory by bickering over removal of all sanctions, and not just nuclear-related embargoes imposed on Iran.

Another bone of contention was Russia’s recent tilt towards Azerbaijan in establishing the Zangezur corridor that links Azerbaijan’s mainland to its enclave of Nakhchivan through Armenia by cutting Iran’s direct access to Armenia and Europe, a decision Falahatpisheh called ‘betrayal’ against Iran.

Touching on the war in Ukraine and the allegations that Iran has supplied Russia with missiles, the former lawmaker even moved beyond, saying Moscow is trying to use Iran as an ‘embankment’ and an ‘accomplice.’