Rouhani Says Way Paved for US to Join JCPOA Meeting

In comments before leaving Tehran to Armenia for a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) on Monday, President Rouhani said during his recent UN trip, the Group 4+1 (Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany) and Iran held a ministerial meeting on the JCPOA.

He also noted that some preparations were done in the session for a meeting of the Group 5+1, saying the framework of such meeting was agreed upon by all parties.

“The framework of that meeting (of the P5+1) was approved by the seven countries, and I believe that a major step has been taken,” the Iranian president added.

He said he will give more details of the plenary meeting of the JCPOA in an upcoming session of the cabinet on Wednesday.

“Such step could go on in other forms, and it is very important to be able to put the nuclear issue in the legal and international procedure, and encourage the others to repent,” President Rouhani added.

Iranian authorities have already made it clear that Washington should honor its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers if it wants to meet for talks.

In remarks earlier this month, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei suggested that Iran may sit for multilateral talks with the US within the framework of the P5+1 in case the US takes back its words, repents, and return to the 2015 nuclear deal.

“If the US takes back its word, repents and returns to the nuclear deal it violated, then it may join other JCPOA parties’ talks with Iran. Otherwise, there will be no negotiation at any level between Iranian and American officials, neither in New York nor elsewhere,” the Leader said on September 17.