Rouhani: US can return to JCPOA instead of seeking new deal

Political Desk

President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday if US President Donald Trump wants an agreement with Iran, he can come back to the 2015 nuclear deal that he abandoned two years ago.

“Trump says he will reach a deal with Iran within a week after he is re-elected. If a deal means a US return to the nuclear agreement, he can do it today by apologizing [to Iran],” Rouhani said at meeting with Iranian media chiefs in Tehran.

But the US, he added, cannot pressure Iran into accepting what it wants. “It they (US officials) seek to impose something, that would be impossible,” he stressed.

The president noted that the US “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran “has failed 100%”.

In 2018, Trump ditched the deal reached by his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015 and reimposed tough sanctions on Iran to force the Islamic Republic to negotiate a new deal.

He told his supporters in New Jersey earlier this month that he would reach a quick deal with Iran if reelected. “We will have a deal within four weeks.”

Iran has said the multilateral agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is not negotiable.  

In response to Washington’s pullout, Tehran has rolled back parts of it nuclear activities. 

Rouhani also said the next US administration will have to change the current policy on Iran.

“The next US administration, whether it is this government or another, will have to think of a new solution. Because the current way has not worked and they have to change it,” Rouhani said.

Last week the Trump administration acted to reinstate global United Nations sanctions on Iran, including an arms embargo that ends in October under the 2015 nuclear pact.

But 13 of 15 countries on the UN Security Council – including major US allies that were signatories to the nuclear accord – voiced opposition to the US move, arguing that it was void since Washington was using a process agreed under a deal that it had already abandoned.

President Rouhani pointed to the US isolation’s at the Security Council, saying it showed the power of Iran’s diplomacy.

Source: Iran Daily