Zarif writes to Mogherini, requests session over U.S. sanctions renewal

December 17, 2016 - 20:50

TEHRAN – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday he had written a letter to EU Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini, requesting for a session with signatories to an international nuclear deal over Washington’s extension of sanctions against Iran for another ten years.  

Zarif’s call comes after Tehran announced renewal of the Iran Sanctions Act by the U.S. Senate runs counter to the terms of the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers signed in July 2015 in Vienna. 

Under the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran reveled in sanctions relief in exchange for accepting some limits on its nuclear program. 

“To maintain the integrity and coherence of BARJAM (Persian acronym for the nuclear deal) as well as its durability all parties to BARJAM require to pay heed to continuous implementation of its content,” Zarif said, according to the official website of Iran’s Foreign Ministry. 

President Hassan Rouhani of Iran had already in a directive ordered Zarif to use all legal capacities of the country’s foreign policy to follow up on the U.S. move to re-introduce the sanctions. 
AK/PA