Larijani to U.S.: Iran can ‘limit’ IAEA monitoring if Washington thinks otherwise
TEHRAN – Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Tuesday Iran can “limit” the International Atomic Energy Agency’s monitoring activities of its nuclear program if Washington thinks they are not enough.
Deploring Washington for undermining the July 2015 nuclear deal, Larijani said Iran has the capability to take appropriate measures in response to such moves.
A week ago, the Trump administration announced new anti-Iran sanctions despite having grudgingly recertified Iran’s compliance with the deal.
The parliament speaker said the recent sanctions are “nothing new” as they showed once again that Washington is not honoring the nuclear agreement.
Iran will respond to the move accordingly, he noted.
“Americans suppose that countering the nuclear agreement would benefit them, while they themselves will suffer the greatest harm,” Larijani added.
The nuclear agreement is being supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations, which has repeatedly found Iran to be in compliance with the deal.
Under the agreement Iran has been tasked to limit its nuclear work in exchange for a termination of financial and economic sanctions.
Tehran has been criticizing the U.S. for violating the nuclear deal. In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria earlier this month, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said “the United States has failed to implement its part of the bargain,” citing the fact that Trump “used his presence in Hamburg during the G20 meeting in order to dissuade leaders from other countries to engage in business with Iran.”
Zarif’s comments came after White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Trump encouraged dozens of powerful foreign leaders to stop doing business with Iran.
The move has been described by experts as a blatant breach of U.S. obligations under the agreement.
MH/PA