TEHRAN (Iran News) – No Talks Needed for US Return to JCPOA. The Iranian envoy to the UN says there is no need for negotiations over America’s potential return to the 2015 nuclear deal, and that Washington must secure a return to the accord by lifting its sanctions within the next three months, a timeframe agreed between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog over nuclear inspections beyond the February 21 deadline set by Iran.

No talks are needed to pave the way for the US return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the deal is formally named, said Majid Takht-Ravanchi in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic, excerpts of which were released late on Wednesday.

Takht-Ravanchi said Washington must remove the sanctions it re-imposed on Iran after unilaterally withdrawing from the JCPOA in May 2018, adding, “If sanctions are lifted within the next three months, Iran will act in line with its commitments.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the senior Iranian diplomat explained that the counter-measures that Iran began to take a year after Washington’s exit do not amount to an escalation of tensions.

The comments come days after Iran stopped the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Safeguards Agreement — which allows snap inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of nuclear facilities — under a law passed by the Iranian Parliament requiring the administration to tighten its retaliatory measures.

The law had set February 21 as the deadline for the removal of US sanctions against Iran before Tehran goes ahead with the halt in the IAEA’s additional inspections two days later.

On the day of the deadline, however, Tehran and the IAEA reached “a temporary bilateral technical understanding,” as part of which the UN nuclear watchdog would continue its “necessary verification and monitoring activities for a period of up to three months.”

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the Islamic Republic had agreed to keep recording information on its inspection equipment for three months without granting the IAEA access.

“If the sanctions are completely lifted within three months, Iran will give this information to the agency. If not, the information will be deleted forever,” it added.

Meanwhile, the IAEA chief on Wednesday said the international community will face a “completely new situation” over Iran’s nuclear program if Tehran and world powers, including the United States, fail to reach an agreement to end the row.

Grossi spoke in an exclusive interview with NHK, the first one since Iran announced that it had stopped the voluntary implementation of the NPT.

The suspension of the Additional Protocol was “a very important loss” for the international community, the UN nuclear agency’s chief added.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Takht-Ravanchi said unilateral economic sanctions are one of the main obstacles to effectively counter the negative effects of climate change and must be lifted.

Majid Takht-Ravanchi made remarks during a meeting of the UN Security Council that discussed the effects of climate change on global peace and security.

Takht-Ravanchi described dealing with the negative dimensions of climate change as a “collective” responsibility and said all governments must fully implement their obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris climate accord.

“Sanctions severely undermine the ability of a number of developing countries, such as Iran, to meet the challenges of climate change,” the top Iranian diplomat said.

“Unilateral U.S. sanctions against Iran have not only prevented the country’s access to the necessary financial resources and technologies, but have also adversely affected the effective use of national capabilities to meet its obligations, and therefore these illegal and inhumane sanctions should be lifted,” he added.