Iran to act on par with US if JCPOA violated: Senior lawmaker

A senior Iranian lawmaker says the Islamic Republic will act on par with the United States in case of any violation in the implementation of last year’s nuclear agreement signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries.

The chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, made the comments on Saturday in reaction to earlier remarks by US president-elect Donald Trump, who had threatened to “tear up” the Iranian nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or try to renegotiate its terms if elected president.

“The behavior of the Islamic Republic of Iran will be in proportion to the US behavior on any [act of] obstructionism with regard to the JCPOA implementation,” Boroujerdi said.

“As the Leader [of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] has emphasized, if they tear up the JCPOA, we [Iran] will burn it,” he added.

Back in June, Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran “won't be the first to violate the nuclear deal. Staying faithful to a promise is a Qur'anic order."

"But if the threat from the American presidential candidates to tear up the deal becomes operational, then the Islamic Republic will set fire to the deal," the Leader added.

Boroujerdi further said the election of Trump as US president showed that the American people are weary of their country’s traditional policies, which are controlled by the “Zionists’ huge mafia network of power and finance.”

The Iranian legislator emphasized that Trump’s election would not lead to any change in Iran’s policies, adding that the Islamic Republic has always opposed Washington’s hegemonic policies.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia – plus Germany started to implement the JCPOA on January 16.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related bans imposed against Tehran.

Ever since the deal was struck, its opponents in the US Congress have been threatening that a future US administration opposed to the agreement would scrap it.

However, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that the nuclear agreement negotiated with Iran under the outgoing US administration was not a deal with a single country or a single government.

He added that the JCPOA has been reflected in a UN Security Council resolution, and therefore, cannot be overturned on the back of one government’s decision.

Also on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reaffirmed the Islamic Republic’s full commitment to the JCPOA but warned of "other options” at Tehran's disposal in case of failure to comply with the deal by other sides.

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