TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said the verification of Iran’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal is not based on U.S. officials’ “ulterior motives”.

“IAEA verification of Iran compliance with JCPOA is based on terms of agreement; not the ulterior motives of U.S. officials, nor of lobbyists,” he tweeted on Saturday.

The tweet by Zarif came two after the UN atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, released a report confirming once again that Iran has remained within key limits on its nuclear activities. The report was the third since the January inauguration of Donald Trump who during his election campaigns had promised to tear up the nuclear deal. 

In July Trump told the Wall Street Journal he "would be surprised if they (Iran) were in compliance". 

Iran, the European Union, Germany and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the U.S., Britain, France, China and Russia - finalized the text of the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, on July 14, 2015. The deal went into effect on January 16, 2016.

However, according to a recent report in Foreign Policy, Trump has assembled a special team of White House aides whose sole task is to figure out a way to claim that Iran is violating the deal. That way he can say it was Iran’s fault the deal fell apart, not his.

According to the JCPOA, Iran has to put limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for termination of economic and financial sanctions. The IAEA is is tasked to monitor Iran’s compliance to the deal. 

NA/PA