PHOTO: Deputy Foreign Minister Araqchi “Iran’s progress is being hindered”


Iran has again complained that the US is holding up implementation of the July 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the 5+1 Powers.

Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday, “The country’s progress on the lines of utilizing the benefits of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] is good, but at the same time there are hindrances, some of which arise from the other parties’ procrastination.”

Araqchi added that the reluctance on the part of “certain countries” to fulfil implementation, announced in January, is being investigated.

Iran had hoped that the completion of the deal, reached after more than a decade of dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program, would lead to economic recovery after years of stagnation and decline. However, the revival has been complicated by continuing US financial restrictions, as well as Iranian regulations and in-fighting over links with foreign firms.

Araqchi declared on Saturday that Iran has begun implementing a series of bilateral financial and banking agreements, but that Western countries — especially the US — are responsible for “shortcomings” in the arrangements.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday that the US is trying 2 solve banking problems, but that Iran “regional activities” and testing of ballistic missiles “hugely complicates efforts to move forward rapidly”.

Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif were in Switzerland at a meeting on the Syrian crisis convened by Washington.

See Syria Daily, Oct 16: No Advance in International Talks