Iran to Engage in Intensive Talks with Europe over JCPOA

Speaking in an open session of the parliament on Wednesday, Ali Larijani said Iran will engage in intense talks with Europeans to see if they are willing to keep the deal alive.

“This is a chance for Europe to show if it has enough weight to settle international disputes,” ICANA quoted Larijani as saying.

The 2015 agreement, worked out by the United States, five other world powers and Iran, lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program.

Larijani said he personally is not optimistic that Europe could hold its ground and keep its promise to save the nuclear accord.

“However, it is worth waiting for several weeks, so everyone would see with one’s own eyes that Iran tried all paths to a peaceful solution,” he said.

The Parliament speaker said the legislature’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission has to monitor talks between Iran’s Foreign Ministry and European powers and report back to the parliament so it takes the final decision.

The speaker said Iran could remain in the pact if other parties to the accord, namely European powers and Russia and China, move to protect the nuclear accord.

Otherwise, he added, Iran will take measures to bring US President Donald Trump to his senses.

Larijani said Iranians should unite to stand against their enemy and give a crushing response to the US and Israel.

The leaders of Britain, Germany and France, which were signatories to the deal along with China and Russia, said in a joint statement that Trump’s decision was a source of “regret and concern.”

Russia and China have announced they would try to block any US attempt to sabotage the nuclear deal.

Iranian officials have warned that they will ramp up Tehran’s nuclear program if the deal collapses, to achieve a more advanced level than before the deal.