Iran FM: US approach caused Iran to step away from JCPOA
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has restated that the United States’ actions were the major reason making his country to suspend its commitments under the 2015 nuclear agreement, urging Washington to lift its illegal sanctions to “remove the cause” of the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.
"US admits that only after it 'left the JCPOA, Iran has taken steps away' while until then 'Iran was living up to its limits,'" Zarif argued via Twitter, using the nuclear deal's acronym.
The foreign minister was drawing on recent remarks by US State Department spokesman Ned Price, who admitted that Iran remained compliant with the JCPOA before the deal was ditched by former US President Donald Trump.
"That US behavior-the CAUSE-has not changed," Zarif said.
Zarif also took to task the three European signatories to the JCPOA - the UK, Germany and France - for having followed suit with the US sanctions policy against Iran and cutting business ties with Tehran for the past three years.
He then advised the US and three European countries that if they want Iran to reverse its remedial actions taken under Article 36 of the JCPOA and return to full commitments under the JCPOA, they must remove the cause of Iran's measures instead of asking Iran to stop its remedial steps.