Iran Warns US it might walk away from JCPOA after House Moves to Renew Sanctions.

Iran Warns US it might walk away from JCPOA after House Moves to Renew Sanctions. (IFPnews).

US lawmakers voted 419 to one for a 10-year reauthorization of the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA), which was initially adopted in 1996 on the unfounded ground that Tehran was pursuing a non-civilian nuclear program.

The ISA will expire at the end of 2016 if it is not renewed and the bill must be passed by the Senate before being signed by the US president into law.

Iranian officials warned the US against renewing the ban in light of the fact that Iran has had the sanctions lifted on the back of its 2015 nuclear accord with world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani addressed US officials on Tuesday night in a strident tone.

“If you extend the sanctions, this will mean kicking the JCPOA away and we will confront it through implementing powerful technical packages,” he said, without elaboration.


The agreement was struck in July 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 group comprising the US, France, China, Britain, Russia and Germany.

Back in July, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said, “We will not violate the JCPOA, but if the opposite side violates it – as US presidential candidates are currently threatening to tear up the JCPOA – if they tear up the JCPOA, we will burn it.”

Trump, himself, has conceded that it would be hard to destroy a deal enshrined in a United Nations resolution. In August 2015, he said he would not “rip up” the nuclear deal, but that he would “police that contract so tough they don’t have a chance.”

Shamkahni said, “The Iranian nation is an independence-seeking one. They (US leaders) cannot sit in glass palaces saying they would [either] tear up the JCPOA or renegotiate it.”


Yahya Rahim Safavi, a top military adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, also said if Washington annulled the JCPOA at Israel’s behest it would cost it dearly.

“Whoever becomes the president in the US, he will have to support the Zionists, but annulling the JCPOA will be a strategic mistake. If Trump seeks to annul the JCPOA, this will cost the US dearly,” he said.

EU’s Mogherini rushes to Iran's defense: JCPOA Endorsed by UNSC, Not to be Changed.

EU’s Mogherini rushes to Iran's defense: JCPOA Endorsed by UNSC, Not to be Changed. (IFPnews).

“And on Iran, let me tell you very clearly that this is not a bilateral agreement, it is a multilateral agreement, endorsed by the UN Security Council resolution. So it is in our European interest, but also in the UN interest and duty to guarantee that the agreement is implemented in full.

For the whole duration of the agreement, which is 10 years,” Mogherini said on Sunday evening at an informal meeting of the European Union’s foreign ministers in Brussels, the official website of the EU reported on Monday.

The ministers discussed a wide range of issue, including the change of US foreign policy under President-elect Donald Trump.

“I have personally a specific role to guarantee that this (the JCPOA) is done by all sides, and for sure this is in European interest. So we will take that as one of the keys elements that will not change,” she added.


Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), reached the comprehensive nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in July 2015 and it was implemented in January 2016.

You know the JCPOA is a joke when....Iran Unveils Satire Book about Nuclear Talks.

You know the JCPOA is a joke when....Iran Unveils Satire Book about Nuclear Talks. (IFPnews).

In a ceremony held in Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Centre, a book titled The Elegant [which means Zarif in Persian] Aspects of Negotiations was unveiled.

According to a report by ISNA, as translated by IFP, the ceremony was attended by Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif, Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, members of Iran’s nuclear negotiation team, and the bereaved families of nuclear martyrs.

The book, which was unveiled on October 1, contains satirical poems, caricatures, and cartoons about the nuclear talks between Tehran and world powers.

In an address to the ceremony, the organizer and producer Abbas Sajjadi, the director of Niavaran Artistic Creations Foundation, hailed the efforts made by satirists and cartoonists who, since the early days, looked at nuclear negotiations from a different perspective.

“I was thinking that we, as culture and art professionals, can also do something beside what our negotiators did; we wanted to do something that is in fact valuable in global and national level.”

“I shared the idea with Mr. Zarif and the rest of the negotiating team and they said that we should wait until the ratification of JCPOA,” he noted.

The book is a compilation of poetry and caricature which depicts the story of the national epic of the nuclear deal, known as JCPOA, in the eyes of culture and art professionals.

During the ceremony, Ali Jannati, the Iranian Minister of Culture, said in a message that “big achievements are often laced with marginal issues that escape people’s attention. Satire is perhaps the most eloquent way and the best means to alleviate the harshness of such controversies and express them openly.”

Jannati stressed that satire is able to provide a sweet wrapping for bitter events of the society and helps people gain a better understanding of contentious issues gently.

“If a diplomat is confident that his efforts will lead to victory, bearing all the difficulties and concerns of negotiations will become easy and even sweet to them,” he added.

FM Zarif also hailed the efforts made by the organizers of the ceremony and said, “I’m actually at a loss for words. Although my last name means elegant, I have to admit that I have been deprived of the elegance of the prominent figures of art and culture who are here today. I would like to sincerely thank them all.”

“I do not deserve all this generosity and kindness,” Zarif expressed humility, and added, “I hope this magnanimity of Iranians, which has been manifested in you artists and intellectuals, remains unfailing.”


He concluded that if it wasn’t for people’s endurance, understanding, wisdom, patience and equanimity, there would be no possibility of any breakthrough on any subject.

If Other Side Tears It Up, Iran Will Burn JCPOA: Khamenei.

If Other Side Tears It Up, Iran Will Burn JCPOA: Khamenei. (Iranfrontpage).

Speaking in a meeting with the heads of the three branches of the Iranian government and the country’ senior officials in Tehran on Tuesday, June 14, the Leader pointed to the threats by some US presidential hopefuls to scrap last year’s nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), saying the Islamic Republic would respond strongly to such a move.

“We will not violate the JCPOA, but if the opposite side violates it – as US presidential candidates are currently threatening to tear up the JCPOA – if they tear up the JCPOA, we will burn it,” the Leader stated, as reported by Press TV.

Referring to the vigorous debate within the country which has surrounded the issue, Khamenei defined his message as being aimed solely at foreign parties, as highlighted by Mehr. “On the JCPOA, both proponents and opponents have engaged in frenetic activity opposing or defending the deal; I directly address foreign parties to the deal and not our negotiators on this issue.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said the US has so far failed to fulfil a major part of its obligations under the JCPOA, while Iran has abided by its commitments, such as regarding its 20% uranium enrichment as well as constraints regarding the Fordow and Arak nuclear facilities.

“Under the JCPOA, the other side was duty-bound to [fully] lift the sanctions, which it has not done. The banking issues have not been solved. The issue of the insurance of oil tankers has been implemented only at a limited level,” the Leader said. “The oil payment and our assets which we have in other countries are not returned to us.”

The Leader emphasized that it is a “misconception that we [the Islamic Republic] can come to terms with the US. We cannot rely on illusions.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said Washington’s issue with Iran is the very existence of the Islamic Republic, which cannot be negotiated.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Leader also warned of enemy plots to hinder Iran’s progress. “The agenda of the enemy today is to stop or eliminate the capabilities of the Islamic Republic, or at least to prevent their growth,” Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized.

The Leader also stressed the importance of increasing the country’s capabilities.

“I have often reiterated that the country must grow in power and that we must increase our potential,” Ayatollah Khamenei stated, adding that it is only then that Iranian officials can expect the nation to have peace of mind.