TEHRAN - Major General Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), says that Iran has grown so self-sufficient and self-reliant in different fields that it can continue its path of progress without agreement with world powers, according to the Fars news agency.

Addressing a gathering of Basij forces in Tehran on Sunday, Salami noted, “Today, we have come to a point that we have really grown needless of the nuclear deal and we have understood that we have to make efforts to become needless of sanctions removal rather than staying in need of the removal of embargos.”

Emphasizing that the Iranian nation has always resolved problems, the top general said, “Our enemies had big dreams (against Iran) and they have forgotten all of them altogether.”

In response to the U.S. unilateral measures, Iran has so far rowed back on its nuclear commitments four times in compliance with Articles 26 and 36 of the JCPOA, but stressed that its retaliatory measures will be reversible as soon as Europe finds practical ways to enter financial, oil and trade transactions with Iran. 

Since May 2019, Iran has suspended its compliance with most of the limits set by the deal in response to Washington's pullout of the JCPOA and imposition of nuclear and non-nuclear related sanctions on Iran coupled with Europe's inaction to provide the Islamic Republic with the JCPOA's economic benefits. It took such steps after waiting for full year that Europe, a party to the nuclear agreement, to shield Iran from sanctions.

Under the 2015 nuclear agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, Iran had agreed to put limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for termination of economic and financial sanctions.

Under his “maximum pressure” policy against Iran, Donald Trump, who left the White House on January 20, slapped the harshest sanctions in history against Iran. It introduced a total ban on Iran’s oil export, the main source of revenue for the Islamic Republic. 
 
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, has said the new U.S. President Joe Biden can revitalize the JCPOA if his administration shows “genuine political will”.

“The Biden administration can still salvage the nuclear agreement, but only if it can muster the genuine political will in Washington to demonstrate that the United States is ready to be a real partner in collective efforts,” Zarif wrote on U.S. foreign policy magazine Foreign Affairs two days after Biden’s inauguration.
  
EE/PA