*TEHRAN – Iran will withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal, known as theJoint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), if there is no economic benefitand major banks continue to avoid cooperation with the Islamic Republic,the deputy foreign minister said on Thursday.*
Under the deal with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the UnitedStates, Iran agreed to restrict its nuclear program in return for theremoval of sanctions that have crippled its economy.
Despite that, big banks have continued to stay away for fear of fallingfoul of remaining US sanctions – something that has hampered Iran’s effortsto rebuild foreign trade and lure investment.
Adding to those concerns, US President Donald Trump told the Europeans onJan. 12 they must agree to “fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nucleardeal” or he would re-impose the sanctions Washington lifted as part of thatpact.
But even if Trump relents and issues fresh “waivers” to continue suspendingthose sanctions, the existing situation is unacceptable for Iran, DeputyForeign Minister Abbas Araqchi said, according to Reuters.
“The deal would not survive this way even if the ultimatum is passed andwaivers are extended,” Araqchi, Iran’s lead nuclear negotiator, said in aspeech at the Chatham House think tank in London.
“If the same policy of confusion and uncertainties about the JCPOAcontinues, if companies and banks are not working with Iran, we cannotremain in a deal that has no benefit for us,” Araqchi said. “That’s a fact.”
Araqchi said Trump’s interpretation of the sunset clauses was wrong.
“There is no sunset clause in the JCPOA. Although the US administration andTrump are talking about sunset clause and that JCPOA is just for 10 years,that is not true,” he said.
“Iran’s commitment in the JCPOA not to go for the nuclear weapons ispermanent.”
He also reiterated Iran’s position that the JCPOA was a non-proliferationtreaty and could not be linked to any other issue.
If the nuclear deal is linked to Iran’s ballistic missile program or itsregional activities, world powers “not only will lose the JCPOA, but willmake other issues more complicated and more difficult to resolve,” he said.
“If we lose the JCPOA, we will face another nuclear crisis,” Araqchi said.
“For the Europeans or the world community, when we talk about maintainingthe JCPOA and saving it, it’s not a choice between the Iranian or the USmarket, it’s not a choice for economic cooperation: it’s a choice betweenhaving security or insecurity,” he said.