This message of Majlis is the indicator of two important points: First, Majlis is determined on the gradual pull out of the JCPOA commitments and it moves step by step and the second is that this Majlis is totally different from the previous Majlises and wherever the government performs above the law or violates it either in the nuclear or even in non-clear issues and implements its own taste, it will not condone.

The majority of lawmakers believe that the government has ignored the Strategic Action Plan law regarding the removal of sanctions which was approved in Majlis and forced the government to implement it as of February 23 as the law forbids the voluntary implementation of additional protocol of the IAEA. Some 200 lawmakers on Wednesday, February 22 in a letter to the Judiciary Chief lodged a complaint against President Hassan Rouhani, Head of AEOI Mr. Salehi, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and called for the annulment of the agreement between Iran and the IAEA.

Lawmakers interpreted this agreement as a violation of the law that they had approved and reported the offenders of the agreement, namely the President and other government officials, to the Judiciary. After the Sunday, February 21 agreement between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Grossi on the IAEA’s inspection of Iran’s nuclear program and the day after it, Majlis convened a closed session and the outcome of the meeting was to report the above-mentioned people and offenders to the Judiciary but in reaction to these measures and Majlis’s strong stand, on Tuesday evening and by issuing a statement regarding Majlis opposition and dispute over the agreement with the IAEA, the government stipulated that this agreement was fully in compliance with the Supreme National Security Council of Iran (SNSC) approval and it is for reducing the cost of the law and is a strategic action. The government statement has called Majlis efforts for annulment of agreement with the IAEA an irrational decision and against the national security and also a “regrettable” one.

The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has emphasized that if Majlis insists on annulling the agreement with the IAEA, it should also accept all consequent responsibilities against the public and it should be accountable for all the consequent costs. The government’s emphasis on the SNSC has an important significance that it follows the following intentions of the two sides: one is  Majlis which pursues the strong demand of the public and is eager to confront strongly with the offenders of the JCPOA either the U.S. or Europe which have not taken any effective measures in implementing the JCPOA, and the other side is the government which still looks optimistically to the Western diplomacy system and insists that it has provided appropriate and required time for the Western side to get past the smear campaign of the Zionists so that U.S. President Joe Biden and European sides can swallow Iran’s conditions and scale back from the Western norms and welcome their return to the JCPOA with offering a logical proposal.

That Majlis from the view of the law considers the issue and that the SNSC with paying some attention to the government’s demand for using its diplomatic capacity can be considered both in the same line and can pave both the U.S. and Europe’s path.

But this remark is very crystal clear and rightly that the Western side has not been committed to its JCPOA obligations and this lack of commitment has caused irreparable damages like a waste of seven years of people’s time with having a hopeful look at the JCPOA, and ultimately with empty hands and no result. By the way, this has happened while the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has closed down the whole nuclear industry by pouring cement under the JCPOA commitment and has fully disarmed Iran in this regard.

On Monday, February 22, Chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mojtaba Zonnouri during the open session of Majlis and during reviewing the joint statement of IAEA and AEOI criticized it from this view that he questioned, “Is it expected Majlis only to approve laws that are not to be implemented?”

Regardless of the difference in the way and timing of implementation of Iran’s gradual voluntary stopping implementation of the Additional Protocol, Spokesman for the United States Department of State Ned Price on Monday evening has said that if Iran returns to full compliance with the deal, the United States would be prepared to do the same. The spokesman in his press briefing has claimed that Iran’s action is to move further away from its JCPOA commitments and expressed his concerns.

It is very clear that since January when Joe Biden has taken the helm of the foreign policy in the White House, this delusion has been shaped in his mind that the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran may be influenced by the media pressure and Western smear campaigns, and it is forced to sit at the negotiation table for adding more obligations to its former JCPOA commitments. And unfortunately, they try to show this demand as a legitimate one and they think that the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution who has always held the helm of the national foreign policy in his hands would this time retreat his words and show flexibility in a condition that the Islamic Republic has put behind at least 65 to 75 percent of hardships of the effective pressures of sanctions and with little more resistance it will be able fully and innovatively to overcome sanctions.

In fact, the ball is on the other side’s court. Iran today has passed the level of uranium enrichment to 20 percent purity and will continue its path for self-sufficiency for its needs in this field. Therefore, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran will be, for a short time, obliged to obey Majlis’s demand which is the Leader, and the public’s demand, too, is facing the stubbornness of the West. So Iran’s path will have an articulated definition and the West will have no way but to backtrack from its irrationality and pertinacity.

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Iran Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh last week and during his press conference and on the set February 21 deadline by Majlis stated, “Minor technical issues should be asked from the spokesman of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) but if the other signatories of the JCPOA do not implement their obligations by February 21, the government will be obliged to stop voluntary implementation of the additional protocol of the IAEA.” He also reminded, “This move does not mean stopping the safeguard monitoring and it does not mean the cessation of all monitoring. Indeed, Iran is a member of the safeguard and NPT but the additional protocol which had been voluntarily accepted will be ceased.”

This issue from the view of the Islamic Republic of Iran of course is very crystal clear that all actions are reversible and the condition for its reversibility will be that all signatories of the agreement should be committed to their obligations. So this issue that Iran’s stance regarding its peaceful nuclear activities has remained unchanged should be emphatically repeated in order that the P5+1 signatories cannot muddy the ground for the IAEA. Recently, Iran Deputy Foreign Minister Syed Abbas Araqchi in an interview officially announced, “The JCPOA without lifting sanctions will be of no value.”

By the way, the foreign ministry spokesman regarding the recent remarks of the Minister of Intelligence, stated: “Iran’s position has not changed and is committed to the peaceful nature of all nuclear activities, and this position has not changed, and the Supreme Leader’s fatwa on the nuclear weapons as a forbidden act remains in place.” On the transparency of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s activities as well as Iran’s recent letter to the IAEA regarding the confidentiality of information, Khatibzadeh said: “This letter is not our first but I hope it would be the last one. We had the utmost cooperation. The information has been leaked several times in the past. The agency is responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of documents. These documents are essentially confidential otherwise Iran’s activities are clear. We are sorry for some serious negligence in the information provided to the agency in the past. This letter has just been a reminder of the IAEA’s responsibilities.”

Recently the Supreme Leader in his two speeches has emphasized regarding the JCPOA that (once in a videoconference with the people of Tabriz) “Regarding the JCPOA, we have repeatedly announced the policies of the Islamic Revolution. Today, I only wish to say this: We have heard many nice words and promises, but in practice, they have not been honored and on the contrary, they have acted against those promises. It is no use talking. It is no use giving promises. This time, only actions matter! If we see actions on the part of the other side, we will take action too. This time, the Islamic Republic will not be satisfied with hearing such and such words and promises.”

The Supreme Leader in another speech addressing some personnel of Iran Air Force also said, “If they want Iran to return to its JCPOA commitments, the U.S. has to lift all sanctions. And not just in words and on paper, rather they have to lift them in practice. After that, we will verify and see if they have really been lifted. Then, we will return to our JCPOA commitments.”

These two emphatic remarks have caused the U.S. confusion to get more and more. Recently and on the eve of U.S. President Joe Biden’s presence in the Munich Security Conference and delivering his speech, some pulses were signaled like the U.S. withdrawal of its request to trigger a “snapback” of Iran sanctions. But three slogans were on Biden’s agenda in the conference: Friendship with Europe, competition with China and Russia, and confrontation with the Islamic Republic of Iran and it made it clear that no drastic change has happened in the U.S. macro policies. Even if it seems they withdraw by adopting some ways, this would be considered as a tactic and it was nothing but deceit. But now the task is very clear.

The government and officials consider this Americans’ way of performance of call for talks with carrot and stick policy as a threadbare method and they have emphatically repeated that until the time all sanctions are not lifted in practice and not verified by Iran and its practical verification does not end in six months, they will not be ready to sit at the negotiation table with the U.S. at any condition.

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“The Zionist regime has always been opposed to the JCPOA, and there were other countries in the region that opposed it too,” he added.

Referring to Joe Biden’s recent remarks, he said, “He did not explicitly announce that he would return to the JCPOA, but announced his readiness to return to the talks. It seems that they have not yet been able to overcome internal tensions and reach a unified policy to return to the JCPOA.”

“No one can question Iran’s goodwill regarding the JCPOA. We negotiated in good faith and by reaching an agreement, we fully adhered to our commitments and acted on them, and even after the withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA, we remained in the deal for up to a year and fulfilled our obligations. 15 IAEA reports prove Iran’s adherence to its obligations,” Arghchi highlighted.

Iranian diplomat went on to say, “We exercised our right in the JCPOA, and our actions were in fact an act against the behavior of the United States and the Europeans. As soon as they return to their commitments, we will return to our commitments too.”

Stating that the Europeans are not in a position to claim that Iran has failed to implement the JCPOA, he said, “If the JCPOA is still alive in the last four years, it is because of Iran’s policies and the Europeans have no share in it, except for the action that stood in the Security Council against the United States for the implementation of Snapback.”

Referring to the IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi’s visit to Tehran, Araghchi said, “Grossi’s trip has nothing to do with Iran’s decision and Iran’s decision will be implemented. He has come to Tehran to establish a new order in relations between Iran and the IAEA.”

“When we joined the NPT, we signed the Safeguards Agreement, giving access to the agency under it, and the agency inspectors will not be fired,” he added.

“We agreed to provide more oversight to inspectors under the JCPOA, including accepting the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol,” Araghchi said, adding, “According to Iranian parliamentary resolution, these measures beyond the Additional Protocol should be stopped. The interpretation that inspectors should leave Iran is not correct, but the number of inspectors’ inspections will be reduced.”

“It does not appear that the Americans will take action to lift the sanctions by Feb. 23, and we will suspend the implementation of the Additional Protocol, although this does not mean that Iran will leave the JCPOA,” the Iranian diplomat highlighted.

Araghchi stressed, “The suspension of the Additional Protocol is reversible, and as soon as our demands are met in the JCPOA, we will return again and fulfill the implementation of the Additional Protocol and the oversight and the rest of the commitments.”

Emphasizing that Iran will not leave the JCPOA on Feb. 23 and the inspections will not stop, he said, “The agreement between Iran and the IAEA is in place. The way is open for the other side to return and the solution to the problem has been stated by us.”

“Leader made it clear that the action of other parties is important to us. We will return to our commitments after verifying their actions,” he underlined.

“In our opinion, the criterion is the lifting of sanctions, and if this does not happen, which seems to be the case, the action will be taken on Feb. 23 and the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol will be stopped,” Araghchi noted.

After the illegitimate US exit from the JCPOA in May 2018, the three European signatories to the deal remained indifferent to making up for Iran’s losses.

Amid the Europeans’ lack of action, Iran took five steps to reduce its commitments to the deal while vowing that it will reverse the course as soon as the other parties live up to their commitments under the accord.

Recently, the Iranian parliament passed a bill, dubbed the Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions in early last December, setting a Feb. 21 deadline for Biden to lift the US sanctions. Otherwise, Iran will halt inspections of its nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and further boost uranium enrichment.

Iran has so far resumed 20% uranium enrichment at Fordow plant in accordance with the Parliament’s legislation and has warned that in the case Washington does not remove all the anti-Iran illegitimate sanctions, it will also stop voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol, which gives IAEA inspectors unannounced visits to Iranian facilities.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has emphasized that for Tehran, the return of the United States to the JCPOA is not an important issue, but what is important is the lifting of US sanctions against Iran.

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“This measure means an end to inspections beyond the Safeguards Agreement, but does not mean an end to all inspections. In fact, Iran is a member of the Safeguards Agreement and the NPT, but the implementation of the Additional Protocol will be halted,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said at a weekly press conference on Monday.

Khatibzadeh emphasized that Iran will nonetheless continue to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and report its new nuclear undertakings to the IAEA beforehand, as has always been the case.

He reiterated Tehran’s position that all of its measures are “easily reversible” provided that the other parties to the nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPAO), return to fulfilling their abandoned commitments.

The JCPOA was unilaterally ditched by former US President Donald Trump in May 2018, in pursuit of what he called the “maximum pressure” policy against the Islamic Republic through unilateral sanctions. Iran has denounced the policy as an act of “economic terrorism”.

Khatibzadeh’s announcement comes more than two months after the Iranian Parliament passed a law to further accelerate the development of the country’s nuclear program.

The law, among other things, tasked the Iranian administration to stop allowing inspections beyond the Safeguards Agreement, including the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol, if the other parties to the JCPOA failed to deliver on their commitments, normalize Iran’s banking relations, and remove obstacles to Iran’s oil export.

“According to this law, the inspections beyond the Safeguards Agreement will be halted, which we had voluntarily accepted within the framework of the Additional Protocol,” Khatibzadeh reiterated.

Asked to offer his take on the new US administration of Joe Biden’s Iran policy almost a month into his presidency, the spokesman said the Biden administration, unfortunately, treads in the footsteps of the Trump administration.

“What is happening today is not different from what was happening before January 20 … The same maximum pressure and crime, committed through the cruel sanctions against the Iranian people, continues today,” he said.

“This should actually bring a stain of disgrace to those who based their election campaign on distancing themselves from the bullying policies of the Trump administration,” Khatibzadeh said, referring to Biden, who prior to the November presidential election promised to rejoin the deal but has so far reneged on his promise.

Elsewhere in his presser, Khatibzadeh said the Islamic Republic’s stance on the use of nuclear weapons has not changed.

Iran underlines the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities and this stance has not changed, he said.

“The fatwa (religious decree) issued by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution on the prohibition of the use of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons remains in place,” he added.

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Iran’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Kazem Gharibabadi, gave a speech to the 21st edition of Edoardo Amaldi Conference, held in Italy’s Rome about Iran reducing its commitment to JCPOA which is not affecting Iran cooperation with IAEA over Additional Protocol.

In his address to the conference, Gharibabadi underlined that Iran’s measure to scale back commitments to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has by no means obstructed the process of cooperation with the IAEA in carrying out the Additional Protocol.

He said the UN nuclear agency has confirmed in successive reports that the Islamic Republic was working in cooperation with the IAEA.

The envoy explained that Tehran decided to reduce commitments to the JCPOA in accordance with the Articles 26 and 36 of the nuclear accord as part of efforts to protect its rights and create a balance in the implementation of the JCPOA.

Elsewhere in his speech, Gharibabadi called for efforts to create a nuclear-free Middle East, saying the Zionist regime’s nukes and unbridled nuclear program pose the greatest threat to the region and constitute a violation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Since 1988, the Edoardo Amaldi conference has held biennial meetings on the subject of nuclear non-proliferation as well as scientific and security cooperation.

The conference is named after Edoardo Amaldi, the first president of the Union of Scientists for Disarmament, founded in 1982.

The theme of this year’s conference is “International Cooperation for Enhancing Nuclear Safety, Security, Safeguards and Non-Proliferation”.

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