TEHRAN – In a press conference on Monday, President Hassan Rouhani said the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the JCPOA, “is not renegotiable”.

Rouhani said Iran will not accept any precondition for the reactivation of the JCPOA.

“Either all implement or do not implement the JCPOA. If all implement it we also implement it,” Rouhani said forcefully.

Now that U.S. president-elect Joe Biden has signaled that he intends to rejoin the nuclear deal certain officials, including German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, have tried to link the implementation of the nuclear agreement with Iran’s defensive missile program and its regional influence. 

The U.S., under Trump, unleashed the “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran in 2018, when it unilaterally left the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Rouhani also slammed certain European countries for making interventionist remarks on the recent execution of a counterrevolutionary figure in Iran, noting that their apparent sensitivity on this issue amounts to interference in Iran’s internal affairs.

“We have death sentence in our law and some people are executed. Why they show so much sensitivity over one person? This does not have a good meaning and has an interventionist undertone,” Rouhani told a press conference attended by domestic and foreign correspondents, according to Press TV.

In clear reference to statements made by France and Germany in condemnation of the death sentence of Rouhollah Zam, who ran a seditionist and counterrevolutionary website against the Iranian government and nation, Rouhani added, “They [Europeans] say this person has been working to serve our interests.”

“When they are showing so much sensitivity ... it is not in their favor and is not in favor of anybody else,” he said, adding, “Iran has a judicial power and its judiciary is independent from the executive.... This person has not been executed without a judicial verdict and it has been handed down by a court of law.”

“Their problem is with the Judiciary’s verdict. We will continue to act within framework of our laws and regulations and I don’t think that this issue would harm Iran’s relations with Europe,” Rouhani added.

Iran on Sunday summoned French and German ambassadors to Tehran to protest statements made by their respective countries on the execution of Zam.

Zam was hanged on Saturday after the Supreme Court affirmed his conviction on the basis of spreading “corruption on earth” among other charges, which bought him a death sentence by the Islamic Revolution Court back in June.

He was also convicted of committing offenses against the country’s internal and external security, spreading lies, abetting economic disruption, spying for the intelligence services of France and one of the regional states, cooperating with the hostile U.S. government against the Islamic Republic, participating in propaganda activities against the Islamic establishment on behalf of counterrevolutionary groups, fueling violence during the 2017 riots, insulting the sanctities of Islam and acquiring illegitimate wealth.

Zam also provoked the people to resort to violence in the riots. 

"Trump's economic war against Iran has failed"

Rouhani also said the economic war waged by the administration of the outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump against the Islamic Republic through the imposition of the toughest sanctions has been a total failure.
“One of the goals that the [Iranian] administration pursues is to defeat sanctions ... because Trump’s economic war has failed and the entire world has owned up to this [fact],” Rouhani said.

Following its much-criticized exit, Washington has been attempting to prevent the remaining signatories from abiding by their commitments in order kill the historic agreement, which is widely viewed as a the most important diplomatic achievement of the 21st century.

Following its withdrawal, Washington targeted the Iranian nation with the “toughest ever” economic sanctions in order to bring it to its knees, but the country’s economy keeps humming and is getting back on its feet.

“The whole world is putting pressure on the United States to return to the JCPOA, so that the deal could be activated again,” the president said, adding, “One of the main services of the 12th [Iranian] administration …was that it used all in its power to prevent destruction of the JCPOA.”

“Trump did his best to destroy the JCPOA and some people wanted to do this inside the country as well, but we sought to keep the JCPOA alive,” Rouhani asserted.

He added that the main reason behind the failure of Trump in its drive against Iran was coordination and cooperation between Iran and other countries, especially the remaining signatories to the JCPOA, within the international bodies, which caused every plan forwarded by Trump to those organizations to run aground.

He noted that the JCPOA was not a “flawless” agreement and has some problems, but "it is also an unprecedented deal in Iran and the region."

The president pointed to years of negotiations between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries, which led to the conclusion of the landmark nuclear agreement, saying that he knew no country, which had held talks with six countries and managed to succeed.

"Although the JCPOA was hobbled [after U.S. withdrawal from the deal], it brought disgrace upon the U.S. and Trump three times at the United Nations," he said.

Rouhani says would not allow anybody to delay termination of sanctions

Rouhani emphasized that his administration would not allow certain individuals within the country to delay the termination of sanctions and would resist against them

"Sanctions should be terminated and this is the right of the [Iranian] people," he asserted.

"The U.S. must return to its previous obligations [under the JCPOA] and as we have previously announced, if they return to all their obligations, we will also resume compliance with our commitments," the Iranian chief executive pointed out.

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