U.S. must fulfill commitments under nuclear deal: Iran
TEHRAN – Reza Najafi, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, has said his country is not satisfied with Washington’s implementation of the 2015 nuclear deal, stressing that the U.S. must fulfill its commitments under the international accord.
Najafi made the remarks on Wednesday after a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors.
He said the board did not focus much on Iran compared to the previous sessions, noting that the implementation of BARJAM (a Persian acronym for the nuclear agreement) has been going smoothly.
The IAEA is monitoring the technical implementation of the nuclear deal, which was signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the U.S., France, Britain, Russia and China - Germany and the European Union on July 14, 2015.
“We announced that Iran’s nuclear program is proceeding under BARJAM, and as the [atomic] agency’s report shows, Iran has implemented all of its commitments under BARJAM,” Najafi said, adding that his country is calling on the other signatories of the nuclear deal – especially the U.S. – to keep their side of the bargain.
The remarks came a day after European foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said she was confident the United States would stick to nuclear deal, despite its protestations to the contrary, as the deal is working.
“I am confident that the review in the United States will bring to wise decisions, which means keeping something that is working,” Mogherini told a news conference on the margins of a peace mediation conference in Oslo.
She further said the European Union will guarantee that the deal keeps, adding that the EU’s policy of engagement with Iran continues.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Najafi said that most countries expressed their support for the continuation of the implementation of the nuclear agreement as well as the IAEA’s efforts.
He also railed against Israel for its anti-Iran stance both during nuclear negotiations and after the deal was struck.
“The Zionist regime, in a statement, made some claims to which we responded,” the official noted.
“We emphasized that a regime which is secretly developing nuclear weapons cannot talk about member states of the [UN atomic] agency,” he said, adding that the Zionist regime’s nuclear program is the most important threat to the international peace and security.
MH/PA