All sides need to continue upholding Iran deal, says China

China has stressed that all sides should continue to uphold the Iran nuclear agreement amid threats by the United States and efforts by the Israeli regime to kill the landmark deal.

"What is pressing now is that all relevant parties should bear in mind the large picture and long-term interest, and faithfully implement and uphold" the agreement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at a regular news conference on Wednesday.

Hua said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was the only international body with the right to supervise the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and make judgments about it, noting that the agency had said several times that Iran was honoring the agreement and that inspection measures were in place to ensure compliance.

China is among the parties to the JCPOA, which was concluded in 2015 and under which Iran agreed to put certain limits on its nuclear program in exchange for, among other things, removal of nuclear-related sanctions.  

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Amid US threats to kill the Iran nuclear deal, the French president stresses the need to protect the multilateral agreement.

The Chinese official’s remarks come as US President Donald Trump is threatening to pull out of the agreement on May 12, which is the deadline for Washington to announce its decision on whether to remain in the deal.

Trump has given the European signatories, namely France, Britain and Germany, until that date to fix the “flaws” in the JCPOA.

Israel has, too, been seeking to bury the deal.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a hawkish address, accusing Iran of continuing to hide and expand what he called its nuclear weapons program.

He presented what he alleged was “new and conclusive proof” of violations, and claimed Iran had lied about its capabilities at the time of the agreement’s signing.

A day after Netanyahu’s allegation, the UN nuclear agency reiterated in a statement that it had "no credible indications of activities in Iran relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device after 2009," citing its assessments from 2015.

PressTV-No proof of Iran nukes program after 2009: IAEA

The IAEA says it has no credible proof of activities in Iran relevant to the development of a nuclear weapons program after 2009.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also reacted to Netanyahu’s allegations by saying that the Israeli prime minister was like the boy, who cries wolf.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi also referred to Netanyahu as a “lying and scandal-hit bankrupt,” who has “nothing to offer but rumor-mongering and deception.”

Following Netanyahu’s allegations, the EU foreign policy chief, also said any claims on the Iranian nuclear program should solely be assessed by the IAEA.

PressTV-EU tells Israel to take claims on Iran nuclear work to IAEA

The EU foreign policy chief says IAEA's verification mechanisms certify Iran's full compliance with the deal and that Netanyahu's remarks do not call into question Iran's post-2015 commitments.

Federica Mogherini said the JCPOA “is not based on assumptions of good faith or trust - it is based on concrete commitments, verification mechanisms and a very strict monitoring of facts, done by the IAEA. The IAEA has published 10 reports, certifying that Iran has fully complied with its commitments.”

“And in any case, if any party and if any country has information of non-compliance, of any kind, it can and should address and channel this information to the proper, legitimate, recognized mechanisms, the IAEA and the Joint Commission [of the JCPOA] for the monitoring of the nuclear deal that I chair and that I convened just a couple of months ago. We have mechanisms in place to address eventual concerns,” she added.

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