News / Politics

JCPOA not renegotiable: Iran’s nuclear chief

Thursday, 05 October 2017 3:01 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 05 October 2017 3:59 PM ]

This file photo shows Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), attending the opening of the International Atomic Energy Agency's General Conference in Vienna, Austria, Sept. 18, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi says the 2015 nuclear deal reached between Iran and six world powers is not renegotiable.

He made the remarks in Rome, where he is to address the XXth Edoardo Amaldi Conference - International Cooperation for Enhancing Nuclear Safety, Security, Safeguards and Non-Proliferation next week.

“We have emphasized repeatedly that the JCPOA is not renegotiable,” he told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), referring to the nuclear agreement that is officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

“Some [parties] want the JCPOA to be renegotiated in technical dimensions, but it is not renegotiable,” Salehi emphasized, noting that Russia, China and EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, had all stressed that the accord is not renegotiable.

“If the US leaves the JCPOA, and other countries follow suit, the JCPOA will definitely fall apart, but if only the US walks away, our monitoring committee on the JCPOA should make a decision in this regard,” he added.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has been opposed to the JCPOA, which was negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama.

Trump himself has verbally attacked the deal numerous times and is reportedly planning to refuse to certify Iran's compliance at a mid-October deadline.

Most recently, the US president described the accord as “an embarrassment” and “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”

All the other parties to the JCPOA, however, have stressed that the agreement must be sustained, cautioning against a unilateral US withdrawal.

On Wednesday, Helga Schmid, the secretary general of the European External Action Service, said European states would do their best to sustain the nuclear deal with Iran.