TEHRAN – Mahmoud Vaezi, the Chief of staff of Iran’s president says that the government has not agreed to discuss missile program in negotiations and the JCPOA is respected if followed with no change. “The whole Establishment, government, and foreign ministry share the same approach toward the nuclear agreement; to us, the negotiations are over […]
TEHRAN – Mahmoud Vaezi, the Chief of staff of Iran’s president says that the government has not agreed to discuss missile program in negotiations and the JCPOA is respected if followed with no change.
“The whole Establishment, government, and foreign ministry share the same approach toward the nuclear agreement; to us, the negotiations are over and they won’t be repeated under no circumstances; this is a clear point that we have reiterated again and again in meeting with officials of all relevant countries,” said Mahmoud Vaezi, the Chief of staff of Iran’s president.
The official made the remarks on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the cabinet meeting in Tehran, when asked to comment on Europe-US measure of forming a joint committee of amending the JCPOA.
“If they form a committee to discuss the JCPOA, let them do it, because when Iran, as the main party of the JCPOA, is not attending the committee so Iran will not abide by the results,” continued the Iranian official.
“We have exchanged views with China, Russia, and the European Union and they have accepted that if the JCPOA is going to keep its place, it should be left untouched so we don’t care the formation of such a committee,” reiterated the former ICT minister.
“We have said repeatedly that our defensive and missile capabilities are not negotiable,” said Mr. Vaezi when asked if Iran has negotiated with European parties over its missile program.
“We have not negotiated over this issue with anybody. It is a universal convention that during meetings the two sides listen to the comments of each other but we have not brokered any agreement, neither have we agreed to form a committee to discuss missile program,” he added.
He also said that French foreign minister’s visit to Iran has no objective of discussing Iran’s missile program.
“Assuredly, we won’t discuss our missile capability with any country, this is a domestic issue and we are only body to decide about it. We won’t negotiate over increasing our capabilities, including the missile defense capability, with any other party,” asserted the Iranian official.
“It is very unlikely that France makes an official visit to Iran on behalf of US to negotiate with Iran. France is an independent country which disagrees with US in many areas,” reiterated Mr. Vaezi.
“The French foreign minister’s visit to Tehran is irrelevant to the recent meeting between US and French FMs and the visit was scheduled months earlier,” he noted.
“The areas of international issues to be discussed between Iran and France make up a long list and so there is no need to have the French travel to Tehran on behalf of the Americans,” stated the Iranian senior official.
