Iran says to reconsider cooperation with IAEA if US dishonors commitments

TEHRAN - Iran's nuclear chief said Monday that Iran might reconsider its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) if the United States fails to respect its commitments under 2015 nuclear deal, Iran Daily reported.

"If the United States does not meet its commitment in the JCPOA, nuclear deal, the Islamic Republic of Iran would take decisions that might affect its current cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency," Ali Akbar Salehi told IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano in a telephone conversation.

Besides, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Monday that Washington tried to destroy the nuclear deal last year and may destroy it in the coming days.

"It has been more than a year since the US president sought to destroy the JCPOA with all his efforts," said Araqchi, adding that "In Iran, we are prepared for any scenario."

If the US administration decides to breach the nuclear deal, "the international community and our region will be the biggest loser, since a successful experience in the international arena will be lost," he said.

"Our region will not become a safer region without the JCPOA," he stressed.

On Oct. 13, Trump announced that he had decided to decertify Iran's compliance with the Iran nuclear deal reached in 2015, a move that did not pull the United States out of the deal but triggered a 60-day window for Congress to decide whether to reimpose nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, even it means violating the deal on the US side.

In the past two months, the US Congress did not come up with any resolution to reimpose sanctions.

With no action from Congress, the ball was passed back to Trump, who should decide in mid-January if he would like to waive energy sanctions on Iran.

The nuclear deal was reached between Iran and the six world powers of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany in July 2015.

So far, the deal has helped defuse the Iran nuclear crisis and bolstered the international non-proliferation regime.

The IAEA, tasked to monitor Iran's nuclear activities, has certified eight times Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal.