TEHRAN - Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday that the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), must be implemented without changing a word of it.

“We do not care about others’ interaction with the United States. Our position is clear: The JCPOA must be implemented without adding a word to it or omitting a word from it, and there is no possibility for renegotiation,” he told reporters before his meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in Tehran.

It is not possible to renegotiate the JCPOA or revise it, the deputy foreign minister asserted.

“All sides are duty bound to implement their obligations, otherwise they must accept consequences of their decision,” he added.

In a statement on January 12, U.S. President Donald Trump gave Europeans only 120 days to agree to an overhaul of the nuclear agreement and said if the text of the nuclear deal is not revised he would unilaterally withdraw the U.S. from it.

Iran, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the U.S., UK, France, Russia, and China – Germany and the European Union struck the nuclear deal on July 14, 2015. Immediately after the forging of the nuclear agreement the UN Security Council adopted a resolution turning the deal into an international agreement. 

Since the JCPOA went into force in January 2016 the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency has issued nine reports each time confirming Tehran’s complete compliance with the multilateral agreement.

According to the agreement, Iran is obliged to put limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for termination of nuclear-related sanctions.

NA/PA