TEHRAN — Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the Vienna-based international organizations says the Islamic Republic does not deem any value on “unfounded and demagogic noises” made by the U.S. and the Israeli regime whose main purpose is to put pressure on Iran and divert the attention of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“The U.S. cannot be seen as honest in its claims about having non-proliferation concerns, when it has thousands of nuclear warheads, proliferated such weapons and the related know-how, used it against a non-nuclear-weapon State, and threatens the others with the possible use of them,” Kazem Gharibabadi said in a Thursday address to the Board of Governors of the IAEA.

“Indeed, such a country is not even entitled to talk about nonproliferation concerns,” said Gharibabadi, adding, “On the same line, the Israeli regime is the only one in the Middle East (West Asia) which is not a member of any of the Weapons of Mass-Destruction instruments and developed various types of such weapons.”

He said the IAEA’s officials, including its late director general, Yukiya Amano, have asserted that the landmark nuclear deal clinched by Iran and six world powers in 2015 constituted an exemplary model for the verification regime, which would hopefully be implemented it in other members of the agency.

The JCPOA is a concrete highly elaborated deal composed of balanced commitments made by its participants and like any other deals, it is supposed to benefit its participants, he said.

In fact, Gharibabadi continued, with the persistent United States’ irresponsible conducts, through adopting malign policies and imposing unlawful unilateral sanctions, the deal has lost its balance of commitments, leading to the loss of the perceived benefits for Iran.

The Iranian envoy further said that although the U.S. administration didn’t abide by its obligations completely, the situation was aggravated when the administration announced its unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA on 8 May 2018. 

“That very announcement and the subsequent coercive measures taken by the U.S. administration and lack of full and effective implementation of the commitments by EU/E3 members enshrined in the JCPOA to remedy the situation have brought about serious challenges to the Deal,” he added.

Gharibabadi then criticized the European members of the JCPOA for failing to fulfill their commitments following Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the deal.

“Unfortunately, the EU/E3 didn’t fulfill its sanctions-related commitments, and commitments related to the civil nuclear cooperation with Iran in this period either. Hence, calling on Iran to fully implement its commitments while knowing the fact that Iran’s legitimate benefits from the deal have not been realized, is neither reasonable nor a practical approach,” he said.

“I would also like to reiterate the already pronounced position of the Islamic Republic of Iran that whenever the lost balance between the rights and commitments of the JCPOA participants as stipulated by the deal is restored through lifting sanctions and implementing commitments in this field, Iran is ready to reverse its remedial actions," the envoy added.

MH/PA