MPs Reject Trump’s Demand for JCPOA Revision

Lawmakers reiterated the stance of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who has ruled out the possibility of renegotiating the Iran nuclear agreement, as demanded by the new Republican US administration.

"As per the international law, a multilateral deal cannot be put up for renegotiation," Yahya Kamalipour said in an interview with ICANA on Monday. As he campaigned for the White House, the new US President Donald Trump railed against the historic pact, seen as a foreign policy legacy of his democratic predecessor, Barack Obama.

He branded it as "a disaster" and "the worst deal ever negotiated" and once even vowed to tear it up if he became president, although he later backtracked on that threat, conceding that it would be too hard to dismantle a deal enshrined in a UN resolution.

He promised to alter the terms of the accord instead. It was concluded in July 2015 between Iran and the US and its five other partners and took effect six months later to end sanctions in return for curbing Iran's nuclear activities.

Those partners, namely France, Britain, China, Russia and Germany, have refused to go along with Trump's idea of revising the deal.

  Deal Spoiler 

Alireza Rahimi, another member of parliament, said reopening nuclear negotiations would amount to derailing the agreement, officially referred to as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of action.

"We believe that opening the door to renegotiating the JCPOA would mean spoiling the whole agreement," he said.

"Iran is vigilant over the new US approach toward the action plan and Zarif's statement is in line with this position," Rahimi said. Speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, Zarif dismissed the possibility of renegotiating the deal, stressing that there is little appetite for opening "the Pandora's box".

"I believe the nuclear deal is going to last," the top diplomat said firmly.

"Threats do not work against Iran," he told NBC News. "It would work much better if they decided to use the language of respect, the language of mutual interest."

Days after assuming office last month, Trump's administration announced it was putting Iran "on notice" over a ballistic missile test and then imposed new sanctions on entities and people allegedly connected to Tehran's missile program and those providing support to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps' Qods Force.