Iran Won’t Join Any Negotiations Unless US Sanctions Lifted: Zarif

Zarif dismissed any assertion on the part of the US or its European allies in the JCPOA that “we signed a number of instructions” as per the international agreement.

“It’s not just signing, it’s the impact,” Zarif said, noting how the US allies failed to implement even a single one of their obligations following Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the agreement.

“European companies listen to Washington more than they listen to them (European governments),” he noted. “I believe they do have the ability to change the behavior of their companies,” he added, regretting the submissive nature of Europe’s behavior towards Washington.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has asserted that Iran would only return to its commitments in the nuclear deal once the illegal sanctions are removed.

Iran is obliged by law to continue its retaliatory nuclear steps if the US refused to lift the sanctions, Zarif said, adding that the country’s stockpile of enriched uranium would still increase.

He reminded that when Trump withdrew from the JCPOA, Iran was in possession of no more than 300 kilograms of enriched uranium, but by the time Biden took office, the Islamic Republic had 3,800 kilograms of the material, and in June the reserves would probably rise to some 5,000 kilograms.

“These are yardsticks for President Biden,” the top diplomat said.

Iran, he reiterated, was not threatening anyone, and was only exercising its right to reprisal under the nuclear agreement.

‘Snapback a US-made term’

Referring to other political maneuvering under Trump, which saw his administration trying to activate a so-called snapback mechanism to return all UN sanctions against Iran, Zarif said the snapback is a US-made term that does not actually exist within the JCPOA.

The US came up with the term to control the public opinion concerning Iran, he added.

Acting US Ambassador Richard Mills told the UN Security Council on Thursday that the United States was withdrawing a Trump administration assertion that all UN sanctions had been reimposed on Iran in September.

However, the move was largely symbolic as the Islamic Republic, along with the European signatories and the UN secretary general, had already dismissed the Trump administration’s claim as unfounded.

They argued at the time that the US was in no position to invoke a provision in the 2015 Security Council resolution endorsing the JCPOA that allowed the return of sanctions because it was no longer a party to the deal.

JCPOA scope never to expand

Elsewhere in his remarks, Zarif said that those alleging that the JCPOA has to encompass more subject matters than it already has should be sure that it will “absolutely not.”

The US and some of its regional allies have demanded that Iran’s missile program and regional influence be included in the nuclear talks. Tehran has roundly rejected any such prospect, saying it will not renegotiate “a done deal” and that its defensive activities and regional might are not open to any negotiation.

‘IAEA has obligation for confidentiality’

Separately, Zarif critiqued the occasional leaking of Iran-related information from the IAEA’s depository.

The information has to retain its confidential aspect, he added, when asked how the leakage of secret data might have compromised Iran’s interests.

Zarif said he would raise the issue of  confidentiality with the IAEA chief during their meeting later on Sunday. “Anything between us and the IAEA should remain confidential,” he noted, recalling how Iran’s peaceful nuclear sites had been attacked and its nuclear scientists assassinated.

The Islamic Republic has on several occasions submitted its verbal and written protests to the UN nuclear watchdog about Iran’s confidential information getting leaked to the media.

Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi Salehi, again raised the issue on Saturday ahead of a visit to Tehran by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.

Grossi, who is currently in Tehran, made the visit after Iran on February 21 informed the UN watchdog of its decision to suspend voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Safeguards Agreement in line with the new law passed by the Parliament.

‘Iran has nothing to hide’ 

“Mr. Grossi, the director-general of the IAEA, requested to come here so that we could have a smooth transition,” Zarif said. “We have nothing to hide. Iran does not seek to develop nuclear weapons. The decision is based on sound geopolitical facts and religious and moral grounds… and that decision stands without any ifs or buts,” he noted.

The Leader has forbidden either production or possession of nuclear weapons by the Islamic Republic on religious grounds.

‘Concerns about Iran program nonsense’

Separately, Zarif noted that the Israeli regime possesses the Dimona nuclear facility, which he called the sole “nuclear bomb factory” in the Middle East, yet a recent report by The Guardian about secret expansion of the facility was not met by even an “expression of concern” on the part of the US or its European allies.

Therefore, while the Israeli regime is allowed to go ahead with such non-conventional activities, any talk about concerns about Iran’s peaceful nuclear energy program is “nonsense,” Zarif said.

“It’s hypocrisy,” he said. “Because if they were concerned about non-proliferation, Israel is not a member of the NPT; it’s proliferator number one.”