TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that the 2015 nuclear deal marked a “moral victory” for Iran in the face of unsubstantiated claims about the true nature of Iran’s nuclear activities.

“We proved to the world that we were right” that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful, Rouhani said at a ceremony held to mark the beginning of the new academic year.
 
He added, “We brought ‘(the motto of) nuclear energy is our absolute right’ to the world of diplomacy.” 

Rouhani who himself served as chief nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005 in negotiations with the European troika of Germany, France and Britain, also said, “We showed the world our political power and proved that our diplomats are so powerful that they can negotiate with the six world powers.” 

Rouhani made the resolution of the long-running nuclear dispute between Tehran and the West a campaign slogan when he first ran for the post of president in 2013. Two years after his presidency Iran, six major powers - the U.S., Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – and the European Union succeeded to clinch an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program.

The nuclear accord, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), went into effect in January 2016. 

The UN Security Council approved a resolution endorsing the nuclear pact and cancelled all the UN Security Council resolutions against Iran. 

Rouhani said, “This was an international victory for us.”

According to the nuclear deal Iran agreed to put limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for termination of sanctions. Since the deal went into effect the International Atomic Energy Agency has released eight reports each time confirming Iran’s commitment to its obligation.

Donald Trump, who vowed to tear up the nuclear deal during his presidential campaigns in 2016, has sent signals in recent months that he does not intend to certify the nuclear deal when it comes up for review in mid-October. 

However, Rouhani said Iran has achieved “non-returnable interests” in the nuclear negotiations that even “ten Trumps” in the world cannot get them back. 
“In BARJAM (Persian acronym for the nuclear deal) we achieved interests which are non-returnable and nobody can roll them back. Neither Trump nor even tenTrumps in the world, because they are non-returnable.”

NA/PA