US Has Failed to Abide by Iran Nuclear Deal: Zarif

Iranian Foreign Minister says the new US administration has not sent promising signals on the implementation of JCPOA, the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, but it will ultimately have to abide by the deal as it is a multilateral agreement.

“We believe that the nuclear agreement is the result of a multilateral process endorsed by the UN Security Council,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said, speaking in a joint press conference with his Norwegian counterpart Børge Brende in Oslo.

“We believe that Iran has been committed – as verified by the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] time and again – to the nuclear deal. And it has proved to be an important achievement for the international community in reducing tension and preventing an unnecessary crisis from taking a toll on peace and security,” he went on to say.

“I believe the US administration will find it in the interest of the Unites States […] to live up to its commitment. Unfortunately it has not lived up fully to its commitment under the deal,” Zarif added.

“It is important for Iran to be able to continue its full dealings with the European Union and others in Europe and with other partners, and I believe it is important for everybody to send a very clear message that they want the continuation of a full commitment by everybody,” the Iranian top diplomat noted.

“Unfortunately the behaviour from the new administration in Washington is not very promising, but we believe at the end of the day, they will find it necessary to abide by the deal and we believe that the rest of the international community will make it clear – as it has done already to them – that it considers the nuclear deal as multilateral agreement and not a bilateral agreement between Iran and the United States,” he added.

Brende, for his part, referred to the recent terrorist attacks on Tehran, and told reporters that he has conveyed his sincere condolences to Zarif on behalf of the Norwegian government for the acts of terrorism.

“When it comes to fighting ISIS, I think we [Iran and Norway] both are very serious about this and we also have our challenges in fighting violent extremism in Europe. So this is something that we are also very much involved in as also a partner in coalition against Daesh [ISIS],” the Norwegian FM added.

Having arrived in Norway on Monday, Zarif plans to stay there for two days, during which he will give an address to the Oslo Forum, which gathers leading armed conflict mediation practitioners.

This year’s summit is to be held under the rubric, “Peace Making in the New Era of Geopolitics.”

The Forum’s upcoming edition is expected to gather the European Union’s foreign policy director Federica Mogherini, United Nations Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, former UN chief Kofi Annan, former US secretary of state John Kerry, and the foreign ministers of Kenya, Indonesia, Sudan, Jordan, Bosnia, Finland, and Croatia, among others.

The Forum started in 2003, gathering only 17 nations. However, it now invites representatives from around 100 countries each year to participate in discussions on international affairs.

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