US Should Not Tie Nuclear Deal to Regional Issues

A senior lawmaker said the US should not make its fulfillment of obligations under the July 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers subject to the settlement of its differences with Iran over regional conflicts.

Chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi also told ICANA on Sunday that Iran's backing for the Syrian government in its fight against foreign-backed militants fighting to topple it has nothing to do with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the formal title of the nuclear deal.

He was responding to remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry in a recent interview published on Friday that Iran's support for the Syrian government, the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and Houthis in Yemen are obstacles to its efforts to benefit from the deal.

"The US cannot escape its obligations using such excuses," said Boroujerdi. "It bears the responsibility for any problems relating to [delays in] the implementation of the deal."

Months after the January implementation of the historic accord, Iran complains that the US has not let it enjoy the full benefits of the deal, by intervening in Iran's relations with other countries and not clarifying vague US restrictions on doing business with Iran.

Big international banks still steer clear of the Iranian market, fearing the US punishment.

This is while the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has repeatedly confirmed Iran has kept its end of the bargain. Speaking to the Foreign Affairs magazine, Kerry claimed that the US has lifted all the sanctions that it agreed to lift and blamed Iranian behavior and issues in its banking system for the reluctance of foreign companies to do business in Iran.

"[The US] even gone beyond it in efforts to try to make sure that banks that are reluctant to do business [in Iran] for various reasons will do business," he said.

"But it's very difficult when Iran is engaged in Yemen and supporting [Syrian President Bashar] Assad and supporting Hezbollah and firing missiles that people deem to be threatening and so forth. That hugely complicates efforts to move forward rapidly."

After the deal, the US took a series of separate measures against Iran that fanned the flames of Iranian criticism of the deal, including a US Supreme Court's ruling to seize over $2 billion of Tehran's assets and amendments to the US visa law tightening control over travelers to Iran.

Last week, the US Treasury Department published new guidance for businesses willing to work in Iran, which said previously prohibited dollar transactions with Iran by offshore banking institutions are allowed as long as they do not enter the US financial system.