Iran Could 'Resume Its Nuclear Program' if US Walks Back on P5+1 Deal

Iran is ready to resume its nuclear program if President Trump’s administration decides to reconsider the P5+1 agreement, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi said. Radio Sputnik discussed the issue with Emad Abshenas, an Iranian political analyst and editor-in-chief of Iran Press newspaper.

Emad Abshenass noted that Tehran reserves the right to “act appropriately” should Washington make such a move.

“If the US does not want to abide by the terms of the P5+1 agreement, then Iran could resume its nuclear program,” he added.

During his campaign US President Donald Trump said that his number one priority was to dismantle the ”disastrous” deal with Iran.

When asked why the US president sees P5+1 agreement, signed in 2015, as a disaster, and about the likelihood of Washington reconsidering that nuclear deal, Emad Abshenas said the deal was a disaster for Iran, which has not been getting what it hoped to get from this accord.

“However, because we signed that agreement, we have tried to stand by it and fulfill our obligations. On the other hand, the US is playing with this agreement and not implementing its part of the deal.”

“We hoped that the financial sanctions would be lifted, but the Americans turned things the other way. I think that reconsidering the deal would benefit us much more than the Americans,” Abshenas said.

He added that if the US decides to toughen the terms of the agreement, Iran would opt out of it and resume its nuclear development program.

As for the steps Tehran could expect from the new US administration in this connection, Emad Abshenas said that he expected a continuation of the Obama Administration’s policy of not implementing the US obligations on the P5+1 agreement.

“Reconsidering the agreement will not be beneficial to the US because everyone will see while Iran is fully abiding by the terms of this deal, the United States has failed to do so, that Iran is a peaceful country and the US is not.”

When asked to assess the implementation of the agreement over the past 12-month period, Emad Abshenas said that the only thing Iran got was a partial lifting of sanctions imposed on it.

“We hoped all these sections would go, but we didn’t get what we hoped for,” he said in conclusion.

On July 14, 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, comprising the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany, signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, ensuring the peaceful nature of Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The agreement came into force on January 16, after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) submitted a report confirming the readiness of Iran's authorities to implement the agreement to reduce the country’s nuclear potential.

During the campaign, Donald Trump variously pledged “to dismantle the disastrous deal” and to ”force the Iranians back to the bargaining table to make a much better deal.”

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