Iran urges European parties to nuke deal to stop 'wrongful, illegal' sanctions

TEHRAN - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on European parties to the 2015 nuclear agreement to stop the "wrongful and out-of-place illegal sanctions," noting Iran has preserved the agreement for three years despite being under "economic war."

"The P4+1 has a heavy task today. They must know we resisted three years of economic war, and it is us who preserved the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) during this period," Rouhani said in a cabinet meeting in the capital Tehran, as quoted by official news agency IRNA.

The P5+1 countries (China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States, plus Germany) negotiated the JCPOA on the Iranian nuclear program in 2015, before Washington under former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement in 2018.

"You stop the sanctions and enforce the law, and if on the very first day after you lifted the sanctions you see that we are not fulfilling all our obligations, then it will be your right to tell the world that Iran is not fulfilling its obligations," he addressed European governments.

A day earlier, Rouhani held a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, in which he reiterated Iran's position that the JCPOA is not renegotiable, and that lifting the US sanctions is the only way to save the agreement, IRNA reported.

According to a note on the official website of the French Presidency, Macron underlined in the telephone conversation his "deep concern" at decisions taken by Iran in "violation" of the JCPOA, and the need for Tehran to return to compliance with its obligations, as well as to "full cooperation" with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

On Feb 23, Iran stopped the implementation of voluntary implementation of the IAEA's additional protocol as envisaged in JCPOA, after a series of gradual steps undertaken by Tehran since 2019 to reduce its commitments under the agreement.