A senior Iranian official made a statement to Newsweek the Islamic Republic’s response to Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s first official comments on President Joe Biden’s approach to tensions between Tehran and Washington had its roots in the latter’s departure, under the previous administration, from the Joint Global Action Plan (JCPOA) , the multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran.
While Biden has pledged in the past to restore U.S. adherence to the agreement reached by former President Barack Obama alongside other nations in 2015 and unilaterally abandoned by former President Donald Trump in 2018, Blinken told reporters on Wednesday that the new government was “too far” from going back to the pact.
In a statement sent to Newsweek, The permanent Iranian mission to United Nations spokesman Alireza Miryousefi noted that the United States has not only broken its commitments to the nuclear agreement, but also to UN Security Council resolution 2231 that supported it.
“The current United States government, like its predecessor, is violating its commitments under the JCPOA and UN Security Council resolution 2231,” said Miryousefi.
He referred to recent statements by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and permanent UN representative Majid Takht-Ravanchi, who both urged the Biden government to reverse the course before Blinken’s comments.
“As FM Zarif and Emb. Ravanchi reiterated in their recent article, we have always maintained that the United States, as a party that violated not only the JCPOA, but also UNSCR 2231 – in violation of international law – must comply with both and suspend the sanctions that imposed, “said Miryousefi.
The Iranian authorities abandoned the important nuclear enrichment limits contained in the agreement, but argue that they did so within the limits of the resolution, specifically paragraph 36. This section allows Iran – after a long review process – “to stop fulfilling its commitments under this JCPOA in whole or in part and / or notify the UN Security Council that it believes the issue constitutes a significant lack of performance. “
Miryousefi cited this section to support Tehran’s position.
“Iran is not ‘violating’ the agreement, it just triggered Paragraph 36, which allows Iran to take corrective measures in the face of continued non-compliance by other parties,” he said Newsweek.
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The Trump administration’s withdrawal from the deal sparked a “maximum pressure” campaign that devastated the Iranian economy already plagued by financial problems. It also alienated international investors from the Islamic Republic, further fueling Iran’s suspension of its obligations under the agreement.
In his comments on Wednesday, however, Blinken placed the blame exclusively on Tehran, which he said would have to take the first step.
“With regard to Iran, President Biden was very clear in saying that if Iran resumes its obligations under the JCPOA, the United States will do the same thing,” said Blinken. “And then we would use this as a platform to build with our allies and partners what we call a longer and stronger agreement and to deal with other issues that are deeply problematic in the relationship with Iran.”
Rejecting Iranian calls for a timely return to the pact, Blinken said there are no immediate plans to put diplomacy between the two longtime rivals back on track.
“Iran is failing on a number of fronts and it would take some time, if it made the decision to do so, to return to compliance and time to assess whether it was fulfilling its obligations,” said Blinken. . “We are not there yet, to say the least.”
The other signatories to the JCPOA, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom, joined Iran to urge the United States to return to the agreement. But the European parts of the agreement also emphasized that Iran must stop enriching uranium at rates beyond the agreement’s designated limits.
Moscow and Beijing also expressed concern, but blamed Washington’s departure and subsequent sanctions as the main instigators of the dispute, which sparked tensions across the Middle East.
Among the few selected nations that oppose the US’s return to the JCPOA is Israel, which has stepped up a campaign against Iranian groups accused of establishing advanced bases and transferring arms in countries like Syria.
Israel’s top general, Lieutenant-General Aviv Kochavi, called the restoration of the agreement or any similar agreement with Iran “a bad thing operationally and strategically” during a keynote address on Tuesday, in which he suggested new options military aimed at the Islamic Republic.
Also expressing reservations about any US-Iran diplomacy are the Sunni Muslim monarchies of the Arabian Peninsula, with which the Trump administration has fostered close ties and oversaw the warming of relations with Israel.
While the Obama administration – in which Biden served as vice president and Blinken as deputy national security adviser – sought a strategic pull with Iran, the Trump administration doubled against a country with which the United States has been at odds for more than four decades .
Unrest has increased in the past four years in the Persian Gulf and Iraq, where Trump ordered the death of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard commander Quds Force, Major General Qassem Soleimani, last January, an act that Biden criticized at the time. Tensions rose around the anniversary of the death of the Iranian military leader earlier this month and a series of consecutive military exercises coincided with Biden’s inauguration.
As a new US leader settles in, however, the days of his Iranian counterpart in office are limited. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s second term ends with the election in June, and Iranian political forces opposing the West have strengthened in recent years.
The Iranian president considered the sanctions a failure during a cabinet session on Wednesday.
“Today, we are more confident than ever that the enemy’s economic war has failed and is in its final days,” said the Iranian president.
He added a call for Washington’s return to the nuclear pact.
“Today, with the exception of a few countries, the whole world is asking the United States to return to its commitments in the Joint Global Action Plan,” said Rouhani.