Iran Informs UN Chief of US Breach of Nuclear Deal Via Sanctions Extension

US decision to extend sanctions against Iran violates the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said in a letter handed to the UN Secretary General on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Iranian ambassador stressed that the nuclear agreement envisaged that states, which signed the deal, should refrain from reimposing or extending anti-Iran sanctions.

"The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran deems the recent measure by the US Congress in extending ISA by 2026 in contradiction of America’s commitments under the nuclear deal," Gholam Ali Khoshroo's said in the letter addressed to Ban Ki-moon, as cited by the Mehr news agency.

Khoshroo called on Ban to raise this issue in his next report to the UN Security Council.

On December 1, the US Senate voted unanimously to extend the 1979 sanctions against Iran by another ten years after they expire by the end of December. The extension was endorsed by the lower chamber of Congress and would now go before President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it before he leaves office in January.

On December 2, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said that the US decision to renew sanctions against Iran was in breach of the 2015 nuclear agreement.

On July 14, 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries — the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany — signed the JCPOA, ensuring the peaceful nature of Tehran's nuclear program in return for the gradual sanctions relief.

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