Iran to take action if JCPOA breached: Commentator

Press TV has interviewed Abas Aslani, the director general of World and Foreign Policy Department at the Tasnim News Agency from Tehran, about Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani’s remarks on confronting US policies, which are contrary to the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 group.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Given the obvious and evident shortcomings of the implementation of the JCPOA by the likes of the United States, we were bound to see reciprocal measures from Iran, weren’t we?

Aslani: Iran’s parliament speaker today criticized the US behavior in implementing the nuclear deal. This is not for the first time that Iranian officials are criticizing the United States. In the past month and since the deal was sealed, Iranian officials have been criticizing the US as the Leader said the sanctions have been lifted on the paper, but in practice Iran has seen nothing. Since the deal was sealed last year, the United States has put some limitations on tourists travelling to Iran, it has imposed some new sanctions and updated list of sanctions, put organizations and individuals on those lists. They have banned selling Iran’s heavy water surplus to the United States. They have banned recently in the House through a bill selling Boeing aircraft to the country which contradicts the deal.

And this is not for the first time that the Iranian officials are criticizing the US, but in the course of time it’s got a bit stronger and harsher due to the lack of the commitment from the US side. And it seems that if this process continues and the other side doesn’t live up to the commitments under the JCPOA, Iran will have some serious thoughts on implementing the deal. Given the fact that the deal was reached during the Obama administration, if the deal is implemented in this way, it is expected to experience a worse situation in the next US administration, whether it’s going to be a Democrat president or a Republican president.

So, Iran needs to consider some situation in which if the other side continues not to keep to its commitments, it will revise its behavior and actions, the commitments it has done so far. So, as the parliament speaker said today, he called on the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to draw up a plan to open a nuclear facility to enrich uranium at whatever level the country needs.

Press TV: I like to get your thoughts on the recent report by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, which has yet again highlighted the issue of Iran’s defensive missile program. That report has seen its fair share of criticism as being inaccurate and inconsistent with the JCPOA.

Aslani: Yes, the Iranian officials and Iranian Foreign Ministry have said that the missile issue and Iran’s missile defense capability have nothing to do with the nuclear deal. Iran believes that it has the right to increase its defense capability, and you can see that in the past centuries Iran, has not launched any attack against any country. So, it, as all the countries are doing, has its own right to increase and expand its defense capabilities. We can see some neighboring countries near Iran that have even 10 times more military budget than Iran. So, given the past experience by Iran in the Iran-Iraq war that many countries and the West helped Saddam Hussein of Iraq in attacking Iran and using chemical weapons, Iran was begging back then for some simple missiles.

So, now it believes that it needs to expand its defense capabilities. Besides Iran believes that the nuclear issue and the deal has nothing to do with the missile issue. So, mixing these two issues is not the right thing. And the report which was published recently by the UN chief, I think, is something which is not constructive. And as the Iranian officials said [making statements by] the party which was not present in the nuclear negotiations back then... is not a constructive action and they shouldn’t do such a thing to undermine the deal.

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