Rouhani Vows to Implement Parliament Approval Unless US Removes Sanctions

Speaking during a press conference here in Tehran on Monday, the president said he has ordered the administration to start compiling the procedural executives for implementing the recent parliament approval on the nuclear deal in less than two months as enshrined in the bill.

The Iranian parliamentarians in a meeting on December 1 ratified the generalities of a bill to adopt strategic measures to remove sanctions against the country and defend the nation’s interests.

The lawmakers had last month given green light to the single-urgency of the strategic motion, but the plan turned into a double-urgency on Sunday after the assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s car was targeted by an explosion and machinegun fire in Damavand’s Absard 40 kilometers to the East of Tehran on Friday.

Under the bill, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) is required to start in two months after the approval of the present bill to produce at least 120 kg of 20%-enriched uranium annually at Fordow nuclear site and store it inside the country, increase the enrichment capacity and production of enriched uranium to at least 500 kg per month, start the installation of centrifuges, gas injection, enrichment, and storage of materials up to proper purity levels within 3 months, via at least 1000 IR-2m centrifuges in the underground part of Shahid Ahmadi Roshan facility in Natanz, transfer any enrichment, research, and development operations of IR-6 centrifuges to the nuclear site of Shahid Ali Mohammadi in Fordow, and start enrichment operation via at least 164 centrifuges and expand it to 1000 by the end of 20 March 2021 (end of the Iranian calendar year) and return the 40 megawatts Arak heavy water reactor to its pre-JCPOA condition by reviving the heart (calandria) of the reactor within 4 months from the date of the adoption of this law.

Also, the government is required to suspend the nuclear deal-based regulatory access beyond the Additional Protocol within 2 months after the adoption of the law based on the articles 36 and 37 of the nuclear deal.

Also, after 3 months from the adoption of this law, if Iran’s banking relations in Europe and the amount of oil purchases by them from Iran is not back to normal and to satisfactory conditions, the government is required to stop the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol.

Meantime, if after 3 months from the adoption of the law, the nuclear deal parties return to fulfill their undertakings, the government is required to submit a proposal to the parliament for Iran’s reciprocal action to return to the nuclear deal undertakings, the bill said.

Rouhani said on Monday that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has contributed to the preservation of Iran’s rights and failure of the US at the UN three times in their bids against Iran.

“One of Iran’s goals is to gain achievements in the field of nuclear and people’s rights. The end of the imposed sanctions means that Iranians can achieve one of their rights,” Rouhani added.

President Rouhani stressed that the US must return to the commitments it has made before.

In relevant remarks last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif cautioned US president-elect Joe Biden to return to the JCPOA and lift the unlawful sanctions, as well as stop the economic war against Tehran.

The US has two positions. It is a member of both the JCPOA and the United Nations. Although Trump pulled the US out of the JCPOA, he did not withdraw the country from the UN. Whether under Biden or Trump, the US must remain committed to Article 25 of the UN Charter, mandating the member-states to accept and carry out the decisions of the UN Security Council,” Zarif said.

“By pulling Washington out of the JCPOA, Trump solely failed to benefit from the deal. This was the mistake Trump and his associates made. If Biden seeks to return to the JCPOA, he will have to fulfill US commitments under the deal and lift the sanctions,” Zarif underlined.

The Iranian foreign minister said that the US is definitely in no position to set out conditions for Iran, adding, “As a UN member and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the US is duty-bound to implement Resolution 2231.

“If the resolution is implemented, the sanctions will be removed. Iran has announced that in that case, it will resume honoring its commitments under the JCPOA,” he added.

Iran signed the JCPOA with six world states — namely the US, Germany, France, Britain, Russia, and China — in 2015.

US President Donald Trump, a stern critic of the historic deal, unilaterally pulled Washington out of the JCPOA in May 2018 and unleashed the “toughest ever” sanctions against the Islamic Republic in defiance of global criticism in an attempt to strangle the Iranian oil trade, but to no avail since its “so-called maximum pressure policy” has failed to push Tehran to the negotiating table.

In response to the US’ unilateral move, Tehran has so far rowed back on its nuclear commitments four times in compliance with Articles 26 and 36 of the JCPOA but stressed that its retaliatory measures will be reversible as soon as Europe finds practical ways to shield the mutual trade from the US sanctions.

Tehran has particularly been disappointed with the failure of the three European signatories to the JCPOA Britain, France, and Germany –– to protect its business interests under the deal after the United States’ withdrawal.

On January 5, Iran took a final step in reducing its commitments and said it would no longer observe any operational limitations on its nuclear industry, whether concerning the capacity and level of uranium enrichment, the volume of stockpiled uranium, or research and development.

Source : Fars News