Iran Says May Go Beyond Withdrawal from Nuclear Deal

Spokesman for the Supreme National Security Council of Iran says the country will withdraw from the JCPOA and even go beyond that if other parties fail to meet Tehran’s demands.

Keyvan Khosravi made the remarks in an exclusive interview with the Iran Front Page (IFP), in the wake of the country’s decision to reduce its JCPOA commitments.

“Iran’s new decision, which has been made using the capacity of Articles 26 and 36 of the same deal, is the continuation of the path of diplomacy for returning the offending sides to the train of JCPOA commitments,” he said.

“Following the Supreme National Security Council’s decision, the path [to withdrawal] will be pursued nonstop and stage by stage.”

Khosravi stressed that Iran’s decision can lead to two major results, but the extent to which they are achieved depends on how much the audiences of the decision correct their behaviours.

“If the offending sides resume implementing what they had undertaken in the JCPOA and respect Iran’s legal rights, Iran will resume implementing its own JCPOA commitments, as it used to do in the past.”

“In any other situation, where Iran’s legal rights are not secured, Tehran would treat the step-by-step path devised by the SNSC’s new decision, and will go on until full withdrawal from the JCPOA and even beyond that if necessary,” he noted.

Whether the game would be a win-win or a lose-lose one depends on how the ball of JCPOA – which is now in the other side’s court – will move, Khosravi said.

Message of Iran’s New Decision

“Diplomacy is the battle of wills for achieving maximum benefits. Nuclear talks were a path in diplomacy for achieving balanced interests based on win-win rule.

“Although the JCPOA was supposed to help realize this goal, the US and Europe turned it into a failure and created a situation where it was totally harmful to remain in the deal. The US did so by pulling out of the international deal and Europe by moving along with the US’ illegal behaviour and killing time, which sounded like deceit. Naturally, Iran’s new decision directly addresses the US government and then the European countries who are directly responsible for the current unwanted situation,” he added.

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