Iran Dismisses EU3 Statement on JCPOA Revival - Tasnim News Agency

Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected a statement by the EU3 (France, Britain and Germany) on the ongoing talks for the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, urging the three countries to act as a fair partner if they want to be taken seriously.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh reacted to the EU troika’s latest statement on Iran’s nuclear program and the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, saying any statement on the JCPOA that fails to mention the US culpability and its role in the disarray in the agreement only shows utter ignorance.

He added that if the EU troika wants to be taken seriously as a fair partner, it must act like a fair partner. The Foreign Ministry spokesman noted that for Iran the JCPOA hollowed out when promised benefits under the JCPOA did not materialize.

Khatibzadeh reiterated that those benefits must finally be delivered.

His comments came after the three European parties to the deal said that chances of reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement were quickly diminishing due to what they described as “Iran’s continued nuclear escalation”.

Since April, Vienna has been hosting negotiations on the revival of the JCPOA, which would require the US to remove its anti-Iran sanctions three years after Washington walked out of the multilateral agreement and slapped the bans on Iran to kill the deal.

The seventh round of talks between Iran and the P4+1 group of countries resumed in the Austrian capital last week after being paused on December 3, when the participants returned to their capitals for additional consultations on two draft proposals that Tehran had put forward. The talks started on November 29 after a hiatus in the negotiations due to the presidential election in Iran.