Foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran could halt the breach of nuclear treaties once U.S. sanctions are lifted.
Iran will not accept requests from the United States to abandon the acceleration of its nuclear program before Washington imposes sanctions, foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.
The request is “not practical and will not happen”, he said at a press conference in Istanbul on Friday with his Turkish representative Mevlut Cavusoglu.
The new administration of US President Joe Biden has said Tehran must comply with loopholes in its nuclear activity under the 2015 global powers treaty before it can formally go back to what is known as the Integrated Action Plan (JCPOA).
Iran broke the terms of the contract in a step-by-step response to the decision by former Trump president Donald Biden to abandon the agreement in 2018 and impose sanctions on Tehran.
Earlier this month, Iran began enriching uranium to 20 percent at its Fordow underground nuclear plant – a level it achieved before the agreement.
However, Iran has said it can quickly reverse these breaches if U.S. sanctions are lifted.
“If the United States fulfills its obligations, we will fulfill our obligations in full,” Zarif said.
On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken denied Iranian pressure for the U.S. to intervene first.
“Iran is out of compliance in a number of ways,” Blinken said at a news conference in Washington, DC.
“And it would take some time, if he made that decision, to come back to compliance and time for us to assess whether he was fulfilling his responsibilities,” Blinken said at a news conference.
Zarif responded bluntly on Twitter, saying that Iran had “adhered to the JCPOA” and had only taken “expected remedial measures”.
“Reality check for @SecBlinken: The U.S. was breaking JCPOA (s),” Zarif tweeted.
Truth study for @SecBlinken:
There we are
-violated JCPOA
-listed food / medicine for Iranians
-punished compliance with UNSCR 2231
Over that hard jar, Iran
with support from JCPOA
-only on expected treatment measures
Now, who should take the first step?
Never forget the greatest tape Trump made.– Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 28, 2021
Iran’s parliament, under austerity control, passed legislation last month that will force the government to harden a nuclear standstill if U.S. sanctions are not lifted within two months.
Zarif also criticized U.S. sanctions against Turkey over Ankara’s decision to acquire Russian S-400 defense systems.
“The US government is getting sanctions and this is hurting the world and the US itself,” he said.