Iran Dismisses JCPOA Working Group Plan

Speaking at a weekly press conference on Monday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Iran has not received any formal notification from the European Union about a JCPOA working group.

“I believe that the US is once again expressing its dreams from the mouth of others, and such a dream is not going to come true …,” the spokesperson added.

“We have no information about such a working group,” Qassemi said.

His comments came after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said a working group comprising American and European officials will soon begin to develop a “side agreement” to the JCPOA, the nuclear agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

“I think there’s a common view among the E3, certainly, that there are some areas of the JCPOA, or some areas of Iran’s behavior, that should be addressed,” Tillerson said in London on January 22.

Earlier in January, US President Donald Trump waived a series of sanctions against Iran as required under the JCPOA, but warned the European allies and the US Congress that it will be the last such waiver he signs if they fail to agree to radical changes to the nuclear deal.

With his announcement, Trump in effect began a four-month countdown until the US carries out its threat to withdraw from the JCPOA. The next sanctions waivers fall due on 12 May.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has made it clear that the JCPOA is a valid international document that would not be renegotiated at all.

Since the historic deal was signed in Vienna in July 2015, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly confirmed the Islamic Republic’s compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA, but some other parties, especially the US, have failed to live up to their undertakings.