Iranian Foreign Ministry Calls on World Powers to Honor Nuclear Agreement

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has called on the P5+1 group of negotiators at the talks on the Tehran's nuclear program to continue their commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu statement about encouraging the USs to renew its sanctions against Iran, a ministerial spokesman said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Monday, Netanyahu announced on his Twitter account that he intends to discuss the US' renewal of sanctions against Iran during his meeting with US President Donald Trump on February 15.

Really? pic.twitter.com/0FrgBaFdxo

— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) 31 января 2017 г.

Netanyahu's statement was in response to Monday's supposed missile test launch conducted by Iran, which he condemned on that same day as a violation of the JCPOA and subsequent UN Resolution 2231.

"The signatories of the [JCPOA] comprising Iran, the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany have no option other than remaining committed to the nuclear agreement," Bahram Qassemi was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.

On July 14, 2015, Iran, the European Union, and the P5+1 group of countries signed the JCPOA to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program. Under this agreement, Iran stated that it would not further seek to develop or acquire nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of sanctions imposed against Iran. A UN resolution was passed shortly afterwards, reaffirming the nuclear agreement.

Under this arrangement, no signatory is able to change the terms without the consent of all other signatories and the UN Security Council. This means that, should the Washington reinstate sanctions against Iran, the action would constitute a violation of the JCPOA.