US Withdrawal to Kill Iran Nuclear Deal: Larijani

In a Friday meeting with Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower house of Russia’s Parliament, Ali Larijani slammed Washington for repeatedly violating the nuclear deal since it took effect in January 2016.

“If the US fails agreements on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program, nothing will remain from the deal,” said Larijani.

The two senior parliamentarians further discussed Iran-Russia parliamentary ties and other bilateral issues, including Washington’s hostile policies against Tehran and Moscow.

The deal between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries — the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany — lifted nuclear-related sanctions against Iran, which, in turn, placed certain limits on its nuclear energy program.

Trump has called it an “embarrassment” to the US, and is expected to refuse to certify Iran’s commitment to the deal during a White House speech later in the day.

If Trump refuses to certify the deal, the Congress will have 60 days to decide whether to restore the sanctions against the Islamic Republic that the US has agreed to waive.

Larijani added, “We would like to thank Russia for its position, as well as (Foreign Minister) Sergei Lavrov, who participated in the P5+1 meeting in New York.”

According to the Iranian speaker, during the group’s most recent meeting, Lavrov said “openly and transparently that the US had violated JCPOA.”

The Russian speaker slammed Washington’s stance on the JCPOA, as well as the use of sanctions as a tool to advance personal agendas. He said Moscow was against the use of double standards, and understood Iran’s concerns.

Trump to step back?

Meanwhile, the Middle East Eye news portal quoted US officials as saying Friday that Trump will go ahead and “decertify the deal,” but will shy away from his toughest threat of killing the agreement.

Besides the “decertification” of Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA, Trump is also reportedly expected to blacklist Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

The officials cited in the Friday report however said Trump will stop short of blacklisting the IRGC, but will rather levy limited sanctions.