Iran Carrying Out JCPOA Commitments Quickly, US Too Slowly

According to a report by Javan Online, as translated by IFP, Larijani referred to the recent US seizure of Iranian assets as an instance of violating the JCPOA, and stressed that it was not the first time US had done so.

“What the Americans did was against international regulations, but it could also be considered as being against the spirit of the JCPOA,” Larijani said.

“It is mentioned in the text of the JCPOA that all parties are recommended to avoid making any move that leads to mutual distrust. The recent move by the US administration has definitely led to our distrust of them.”

“Of course, this was not the first time the Americans have violated the JCPOA; one can find many instances of the issue. For example, we were not obliged to carry out our commitments all at once, while they do theirs little by little,” Larijani stressed.

“If the two sides were just supposed to issue orders, but nothing happens based on these orders, we could have issued orders for the filling of our reactors with cement, but prolonged the implementation of the order for five years based on the Westerners’ ‘slow-drip’ policy.”

“The Americans claim to have issued the order to lift sanctions, pay frozen money, and encourage the banks to reintegrate with us, but all of them have basically remained at the level of an order, and none of them have been implemented.”

“Of course, I believe we should have predicted such violations and disloyalty by the Western side and known that we would be dealing with an unreliable partner,” he added.

Larijani further hailed the efforts made by the government to pursue the JCPOA implementation and the return of Iran’s frozen assets, saying, “I believe if the Westerners and the US witness Iran’s firm reaction to their dishonest behaviour, they will realize that such moves have made us distrustful of them, and will back off from their actions.”

On April 20, the US Supreme Court upheld the Congress and President Barack Obama’s actions to hold Iran financially responsible for the 1983 bombing that killed 241 Marines at their barracks in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

The ruling, strongly denounced by Iran, allows the families of the Marines and victims of other attacks that courts have linked to Iran to seize some $2bn in assets held in New York’s Citibank, belonging to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), which had been blocked under US sanctions.