JCPOA’s Endurance Lies in All Sides’ Adherence

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations said the nuclear agreement between Tehran and major powers will endure only if all parties to the deal stick to their commitments.

Gholamali Khoshrou made the statement on Monday, addressing a UN General Assembly meeting to discuss an annual report by the UN nuclear agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano submitted the report to the assembly, detailing its activities over the past year. The IAEA is tasked with monitoring the technical implementation of the Iran deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which was struck between Iran and the US, Britain, Russia, France and China plus Germany last year.

"At a time when the agency and all sides to the JCPOA have verified that Iran has fully lived up to its JCPOA obligations, other sides [too] are obligated to fulfill their commitments in a real sense and refrain from [taking] any action that contradicts the letter, spirit and intent of the agreement," Khoshrou said in his General Assembly speech, Press TV reported.

Since the implementation of the deal in January 2015, the IAEA has consistently verified Iranian compliance.

Khoshrou said, "Although Iran has remained and will remain fully committed to the JCPOA as a multilateral agreement, in order for the deal's permanence to be guaranteed, all concerned parties, and not only Iran, are required to fulfill all JCPOA commitments in a complete and timely fashion."

Such inclusive compliance, he said, would be to the benefit of all parties to the agreement as well as the international community.

The US Congress has recently voted to extend an anti-Iran legislation known as Iran Sanctions Act, extending the US president's authority to reimpose potential sanctions on Iran for another 10 years.

The law was first adopted in 1996 to punish investments in the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program and support for anti-Israeli resistance groups.

ISA awaits President Barack Obama's signature to become law. The White House has signaled that it will sign ISA but will "waive" nuclear-related sanctions against Iran.

However, Iranian officials believe that the Congress' renewal of the ISA will signify a breach of JCPOA.

  Need for Expeditious Move

In his Monday speech, Khoshrou said the congressional vote was against the JCPOA's "letter and spirit" and in contravention of US commitments under the deal. He urged the US government to expeditiously resolve the concerns that have arisen as a result of the measure.

Khoshrou had earlier submitted an official letter of complaint about the US Congress vote to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The Iranian envoy concluded his Monday remarks by saying that "the Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to continue its nuclear activities in the area of research and development and the production of nuclear energy, including the development of the complete nuclear fuel cycle for peaceful purposes."

Under the JCPOA, which puts certain limits on the Iranian nuclear program in return for the termination of all nuclear-related sanctions, Iran is allowed to conduct research and development in the nuclear field.