JCPOA Breach Would Trigger Iran’s Response

The Leader of Islamic Revolution warned that should a US Congress bill to reauthorize the Iran Sanctions Act be passed into law and implemented, Iran would treat it as a breach of the 2015 nuclear deal and will respond accordingly.

"The current US administration … has so far committed numerous infringements in relation to the nuclear agreement," Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei was also quoted as saying by his official website.

US Republican lawmakers, who control the House of Representatives and Senate and unanimously oppose the historic agreement, have introduced several anti-Iran measures to interfere with its implementation.

The House passed a bill last week renewing sanctions on Iran for another decade.

"If the extension [to the ISA] is enforced, it would constitute a violation of the JCPOA, and they should know that it would definitely prompt a response by the Islamic Republic," Ayatollah Khamenei said in a meeting with members of the Basij volunteer forces in Tehran on Wednesday.

JCPOA stands for the formal name of the pact, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which was negotiated between Iran and major powers to roll back Tehran's nuclear program in return for relief from international sanctions.

The house voted 419 to one to reauthorize the ISA, a law first adopted in 1996 to target Iran's energy sector.

The Iran measure will expire at the end of 2016, if it is not renewed.

It must still be approved by the Senate and signed by President Barack Obama to become law.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the chamber will vote to pass the bill before adjourning next month.

Obama would likely not veto a clean renewal because US administration officials have concluded it would not violate the terms of the action plan.

The nuclear deal says, "The US administration, acting consistent with the respective roles of the president and the congress, will refrain from reintroducing or reimposing the sanctions … It has ceased applying under this JCPOA. Iran has stated that it will treat such a reintroduction or reimposition of the sanctions … or such an imposition of new nuclear-related sanctions, as grounds to cease performing its commitments under the JCPOA in whole or in part."