Iran expects JCPOA dividends for high costs incurred: Larijani

Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says Iran expects to benefit from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) for which it has paid high costs or it would rethink dealing with the 2015 nuclear accord. 

Iran is on the lookout for the ramifications of US President Donald Trump's bellicose speech on Friday, in which he refused to certify the accord and left the door open for new coercive measures against the Islamic Republic. 

"On the subject of the JCPOA, we have sustained high costs. If we are not to benefit from the JCPOA through the inappropriate behavior of Trump, and merely pay the costs, we will certainly rethink this issue," Larijani said.

He made the remarks in a meeting with Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Lassina Zerbo in Saint Petersburg which hosted the 137th assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). 

Larijani touched on Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei's fatwa against the acquisition, development and use of nuclear weapons, saying it also includes other weapons of mass destruction.

"The fatwa of our Eminent Leader is not merely prohibiting nuclear weapons, but it also forbids the use of all weapons of mass destruction, including biological and chemical weapons."

The JCPOA is a testimony to Iran's peaceful nuclear activities and was reached after repeated inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) did not find any non-civilian intentions in the program. 

Larijani said, "We are a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has so far confirmed our adherence eight times, but Tramp claims that Iran is not in compliance, and that Congress must decide about it.

"If Trump is to make a judgement on this, then what is the responsibility of the International Atomic Energy Organization?" the speaker asked.

Zerbo said Ayatollah Khamenei's fatwa on the prohibition of atomic weapons is "very important," adding no country should try to scuttle the JCPOA. 

Trump has threatened in the past to “tear up” the deal, and called it an “embarrassment” to the US.

In an insulting speech on Friday, he said his administration "cannot and will not" certify the agreement even as the United Nations and other world countries support it.

Trump had already endorsed the agreement twice but on Friday he handed its fate to the US Congress, entrusting the landmark deal’s future to some of its staunchest critics.

After Trump’s speech, the UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany, which are the other parties to the accord, reiterated their continued commitment to it.

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Zerbo said he has always appreciated Iran’s "positive and constructive position" regarding the JCPOA, the Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency (ICANA) reported.

“The JCPOA is the most important agreement, which has been reached in this area over the past 10 years. All the parties should strive to preserve it," it quoted Zerbo as saying.

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