PHOTO: Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Czech counterpart Lubomir Zaoralek in Prague on Friday (AFP)
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Iran’s regime showed its concern on Friday that President-elect Donald Trump will abandon the July 2015 nuclear deal between the US and the 5+1 Powers.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif repeated his line, put out just after the confirmation of Trump’s victory on Wednesday that “Iran wants to remain committed to JCPOA [the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] provided that everybody else is prepared to do the same”.
However, speaking in Prague alongside his Czech counterpart, Zarif cautioned again that while “that’s our preference…it doesn’t mean that we do not have other options”.
Throughout his Presidential campaign, Trump denounced the agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of US and European sanctions. In September 2015, at the outset of his quest, he told a rally in front of the US Capitol:
I’ve been making lots of wonderful deals, great deals, that’s what I do. Never ever, ever in my life have I seen any transaction so incompetently negotiated as our deal with Iran. And I mean never.
President Rouhani also showed concern on Wednesday in his reaction to Trump’s surprise win over Hillary Clinton:
Iran’s understanding of the JCPOA is that the deal is not an agreement with just one country or administration. Rather it was strengthened as a UNSC resolution, and it cannot be changed with the decision of a single administration.
In another signal of the Government’s desire to maintain the deal, State news agency IRNA features its interview with US journalist Barbara Slavin:
Those of us who support the Iran nuclear agreement will work very hard to convince Trump and Congress that they should not jeopardize an agreement that is working.
It is good that Iranian leaders have proclaimed their continued support for the JCPOA. It would be helpful if they publicly or privately, through diplomatic channels, expressed their willingness to work with the new US administration on other matters of concern.
Hardliners in the Iranian regime have chosen a tougher, more defiant approach. In his Tehran Friday Prayer, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami warned Trump, “Beware, toying with Iran is playing with fire.”
Implementation of the deal began in January 2015, but Iran is still struggling for anticipated economic recovery amid some continuing US sanctions. Essential trade and investement deals have been held up by Iranian bureaucracy, regime in-fighting, and European concerns that they could be punished by Washington over any new links with Tehran.
UN Envoy De Mistura Meets Iranian Officials in Tehran
The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has visited Tehran for discussions with Iranian officials.
Iranian State media featured a statement from Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari urging the UN to refrain from any pressure on the Assad regime and Russia:
It is very important that the United Nations, which holds an international status, remain impartial in any measure about the Syrian developments and the country’s crisis, and fulfill its essential duty to maintain global peace, stability and security.
The Iranian outlets carried no statement from de Mistura.
(Cross-posted from Syria Daily)
