Tabnak – US President Donald Trump’s tough positions on Iran’s nuclear deal has encouraged some other Western as well as Middle Eastern states to raise the idea of "amending” the deal. However, Iran has strongly rejected any idea for changing the current content of the deal.
According to Press TV, Iran has rejected French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to amend the landmark 2015 nuclear deal to cover the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile capabilities.
"We have repeatedly told French officials that the JCPOA (the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) is not negotiable and other issues will not be included in it,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Saturday.
"France is … completely aware of our country’s stance that Iran’s defensive affairs are not negotiable,” he added.
In an interview with the Time magazine, published on Thursday, Macron said, "We should negotiate a new series of criteria and a new treaty with Iran to stop their ballistic activities in the region.”
On the other hand, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said recently that the European Union must more actively support and take practical measures on the implementation of the nuclear agreement.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Friday, Zarif added that he had held "very detailed” talks with the European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, and was informed about efforts by the 28-nation bloc to fully implement the nuclear agreement.
"The European Union is required to function more actively regarding the implementation of the JCPOA and the fulfillment of [the signatories’] commitments under the JCPOA and demonstrate a practical measure,” Zarif pointed out.
Earlier on Friday, Zarif said in his speech the conference in Samarkand that Iran has practically proved its commitment to nuclear non-proliferation by signing a nuclear deal with six world powers and remaining fully committed to the terms of the landmark pact.
By clinching the nuclear deal and fulfilling all our commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran proved in action proved its compliance with the principle of non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament, Zarif said.
Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — the United States, France, Britain, Russia, and China — plus Germany finalized the nuclear agreement on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016. The EU coordinated the negotiations that culminated in the deal.
The US, under President Donald Trump, has however been attempting to undermine the deal, falsely claiming that Iran is non-compliant with it. This is while the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been consistently verifying Iranian compliance.
