Iran Says All Options on Table If US Breaches Nuclear Deal

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), says all options are on the table in case the US violates the nuclear deal signed between Tehran and six world powers, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“Washington is unlikely to do this (violate the JCPOA) because such a move will be to its detriment,” he added in an interview with Al-Mayadeen TV, as cited in Farsi by the Fars News Agency.

“Iran’s response will be proportionate to the way the US deals with it (the nuclear deal),” he said.

The European Union, China, Russia and other countries have approved of the JCPOA, so Washington’s withdrawal from the deal will have no bearing on its implementation, said Salehi.

He said if the US contravenes the agreement, the responsibility for it will rest with Washington itself.

“It is not our responsibility. The [International Atomic Energy] Agency has announced almost seven times that Iran has remained committed to the JCPOA, and hence, there are no grounds for violating the deal,” he said.

He expressed the hope that a day will not come when Iran will have to return to the pre-JCPOA situation.

“At the beginning of the [nuclear] talks, the possibility of the deal being violated was put forward as well. So, several channels were envisaged to get back to the previous situation, even a situation better than before.”

Salehi described the JCPOA as a “history” whose impacts will be noticed more and more as time goes by. He also said he was pleased to have had a key role in the nuclear negotiations.

“Nuclear activities such as uranium enrichment, production of heavy water, the re-designing of the Arak reactor with China’s help in addition to exploitation of uranium quarries are underway better than before, and media reports of internal differences in Iran over the JCPOA are simply political dreams,” said Salehi.

He further noted that Iran and Russia are further expanding their relations.

Salehi touched upon joint ventures by Tehran and Moscow, including the construction of two new large power stations in Bushehr next to the current nuclear facility there.

“Iran has very deep and extensive ties with Russia in the nuclear field,” he noted.