Speaking at a joint press conference with his Austrian counterpart, Alexander
Van der Bellen, in Vienna on Wednesday, President Rouhani described the JCPOA as
"a very important deal” for Iran, the European Union and the world.
He further pointed to US move to withdraw from the JCPOA and said, "The US
action is against the law, the UN Security Council's resolutions, and
multilateral commitments, and will undoubtedly be to the detriment of the US and
others.”
"The decision adopted by the US has not been in the interest of anyone,” he
said, adding, "This is a strange decision that an administration takes against
its own national interests…”
Iran will protect the JCPOA if the country can completely use the deal’s
benefits, the president noted.
If other signatories to the agreement be able to ensure the interests of Iran,
the country will continue to stay in the deal without the US, he went on to say.
The Austrian president, for his part, expressed his country’s sorrow over
Washington’s move to walk away from the JCPOA and said the US sanctions against
the Islamic Republic, which will also target Austria, are in violation of human
rights.
Rouhani arrived in Vienna on Tuesday on the second leg of his tour of Europe,
which had already taken him to Switzerland.
The Iranian president has enhanced political contacts with foreign leaders on
the ways to save the JCPOA after the US exit.
On May 8, the US president pulled his country out of the JCPOA, which was
achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group
5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Following the US exit, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the
accord.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has
underlined that any decision to keep the JCPOA running without the US should be
conditional on "practical guarantees” from the Europeans.
Source: Tasnim