Iranian MP Not Optimistic about JCPOA Talks with Europe


Iranian MP Not Optimistic about JCPOA Talks with Europe

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian lawmaker expressed doubts that the country’s negotiations with the European parties to the JCPOA on saving the 2015 nuclear deal would yield positive results.

“The prospect of the talks with the Europeans shows that the situation is not promising,” Rapporteur of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Naqavi Hosseini told Tasnim on Tuesday.

“Therefore, we should not waste the time of the Iranian nation and Establishment anymore and wait for (required action from) reneging governments,” he added.

His comments came a day after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei criticized Europe for its stances on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“It seems from what they say that some European governments expect the Iranian nation to both put up with sanctions and give up its nuclear activities and continue to observe limitations (on its nuclear program under the JCPOA). I tell those governments that this bad dream will never come true,” the Leader said Monday in a ceremony held at the Imam Khomeini Mausoleum in south Tehran to commemorate the 29th anniversary of the passing away of the founder of the Islamic Republic.

Stressing that the Iranian nation and government cannot tolerate to be both sanctioned and put in the “nuclear custody,” Ayatollah Khamenei ordered the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) to take rapid steps to make preparations for starting uranium enrichment “up to a level of 190,000SWU for the time being within the framework of the JCPOA” and take other preliminary steps that the president has ordered.

Describing the Leader’s order as “strategic”, Naqavi Hosseini said it was in line with a law passed by the parliament that calls for reciprocal action if one of the JCPOA parties fails to meet its commitments under the deal.

“The Americans brazenly violated the JCPOA and unilaterally withdrew from it,” he said. “After their move, the (Iranian) administration should have taken a reciprocal measure but we considered a delay (in taking action) to allow for talks with the Europeans.”

US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the nuclear agreement, which Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) had reached in Vienna in 2015.

Trump also said he would reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose “the highest level” of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.

Iran and the remaining parties, including Britain, France and Germany, have since been in talks to see if they can maintain the JCPOA after the US pullout.

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