TEHRAN - Mahmoud Vaezi, the Iranian President's Chief of Staff, said on Friday that Iran has never withdrawn from the nuclear deal so that it would be the first to return to its obligations, IRNA reported on Friday.

“We held negotiations once and the issue of the JCPOA has been closed. Our stance on the JCPOA was clear and we have maintained our past approach,” Vaezi said when asked that the new U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said Iran should first return to the deal. 
 
“For us, there is no difference between the Trump and Biden administrations; therefore, Iran’s stance will not change,” he noted.

He stressed, “As President Rouhani has repeatedly said, only when the U.S. returns to its obligations, Iran will fulfill its commitments.”

Iran started to gradually reduce some of its nuclear commitments only one year after the Trump administration withdrew from the JCPOA and imposed the harshest ever sanctions against Iran in violation of the agreement and UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorses the accord.

Iran reduced its nuclear commitments based on paragraph 36 of the JCPOA. 

In a tweet on Thursday, Zarif also responded to Blinken, saying, “The U.S. violated the JCPOA, blocked food and medicine to Iranians, and even punished adherence to the UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the nuclear deal.”

Zarif then asked, “Throughout that sordid mess, Iran abided by the JCPOA, only took foreseen remedial measures. Now, who should take 1st step?” 
 
“Never forget Trump's maximum failure,” he told his American counterpart in his twitter account.

In a press conference in Istanbul on Friday with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, Zarif also said this demand by the new team of the Biden administration that Iran should fully comply with its obligations first is not logical because it is the U.S. which has pulled out of the JCPOA.

“Now it is the duty of the U.S. to return to the JCPOA first,” Zarif insisted.

EE/PA