US withdrawal from nuclear deal endangers intl. security

"The unilateral US move to withdraw from this agreement will have negative impacts on regional and international peace and security," Salehi said in an address to the 62nd General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Monday.

He added that the nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries through a difficult procedure.

Iran's nuclear chief emphasized that Washington decided to pull out of the deal in May "although the IAEA has verified the Islamic Republic of Iran's compliance with the agreement on 12 consecutive occasions," adding that the US was never fully committed to the contents of the nuclear accord under both the former administration and its successor.

US President Donald Trump announced in May that Washington was pulling out of the JCPOA, which lifted nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions on Iran's nuclear program.

The US administration reintroduced the previous sanctions while imposing new ones on the Islamic Republic. It also introduced punitive measures — known as secondary sanctions — against third countries doing business with Iran.

A first round of American sanctions took effect in August, targeting Iran's access to the US dollar, metals trading, coal, industrial software, and auto sector. A second round, forthcoming on November 4, will be targeting Iran’s oil sales and its Central Bank.

Despite Washington's withdrawal, Iran has not left the deal yet, but stressed that the remaining signatories to the agreement now had to work to offset the negative impacts of the US pullout for Iran if they wanted Tehran to remain in it.

/SR

'US withdrawal from nuclear deal endangers intl. security'