TEHRAN – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Monday that the international community should be ready for possible U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“It has been over one year that the U.S. president [Donald Trump] is making any efforts to ruin the JCPOA,” he told the Tehran Security Conference.

Araqchi said the JCPOA proved a “successful experience” at the international stage, warning that the Middle East region will not be a safer without the nuclear deal.

“The most important lesson to be taught [from reaching the nuclear deal] is that we can be hopeful of solving complicated problems through diplomatic dialogues,” he said. 

Araqchi, the deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, said the nuclear deal was the result of a “win-win” approach crafted based on dialogue.

The nuclear deal was signed between Iran, the European Union, Germany and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia - in July 2015. The agreement went into effect in January 2016.

Under the deal, Iran is obliged to put restrictions on its nuclear activities in exchange for termination of economic and financial sanctions. 

So far the International Atomic Energy Agency has issued nine reports each time confirming that Iran is abiding fully to the terms of the agreement.

Trump, in a statement issued on October 13, refused to certify Iran’s compliance to the nuclear deal and asked Congress to decide about the fate of the nuclear deal.

However, Congress passed the ball back to Trump by letting the deadline on reimposing sanctions on Iran pass. Trump must decide in mid-January if he wants to continue to waive energy sanctions on Iran.

NA/PA