TEHRAN – Chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee has warned of U.S. plots to push Iran into an extreme approach on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal.

Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said the U.S. is trying to force Iran to leave the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or stopping its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, ISNA reported on Sunday.

“The U.S. goal, by imposing new nuclear-related sanctions, is to force Iran into quitting its cooperation with Agency and leaving the NPT, so that Iran’s case would fall under the Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter,” he said, referring to the Trump administration’s move on Friday to impose sanctions on Iran’s export of enriched uranium.

Iran should not define its policies and foreign relations based on its response to the United States’ hostile approach, the top lawmaker underscored.

He added, “Iran needs to increase its level of uranium enrichment to over 20% within the framework of the JCPOA and according to the IAEA’s statute, without taking a hardline stance in this regard.” 

Such an approach had once brought the world to the negotiating table with Iran, which resulted in the signing of the JCPOA in 2015, he remarked.

Falahatpisheh suggested that Iran could instead engage in talks with the IAEA and other parties to the JCPOA for producing uranium with the purity of 20 percent.

U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled Washington out of the 2015 nuclear deal in May 2018 and ordered reimposition of sanctions against Iran. The first round of sanctions went into force on August 6 and the second round, which targets Iran’s oil exports and banks, were snapped back on November 4. In November, the U.S. allowed eight countries, including China, India and South Korea, to limitedly buy oil from Iran. However, on April 22, it suddenly announced that if any country imports oil from Iran after May 1 will be subject to U.S. sanctions.
 
MH/PA