Iran Is Using Any Issue To Void Nuclear Weapons Agreement

SANCTIONS RENEWAL BY US BREACH OF COMMITMENTS

 November 28, 2016   0 Comment
IMRA.ORG.IL, JOSEPH KLEAN

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the renewal of sanctions against the Islamic Republic by the US is tantamount to the violation of commitments under the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and the group of six countries known as the P5+1.

“During the [nuclear] negotiations there was a lot of debate about the sanctions, but now they raise the issue of extending the sanctions in the US Congress and claim that these are not [new] sanctions but renewal [of old ones],” the Leader said in a meeting with a group of Iranian Navy commanders and officials in Tehran on Sunday on the occasion of National Navy Day.

“'Launching sanctions' is no different from 'renewing them after their expiration,' and the latter is also [an instance of imposing] sanctions and violation of the previous commitments by the opposite side,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

The GOP-controlled US House of Representatives on November 15 passed a bill for a 10-year extension of the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA). The ISA will expire at the end of 2016 if it is not renewed. The bill must be approved by the Senate before being signed by the US president into law.

Addressing members of the volunteer Basij forces in Tehran on Wednesday, Ayatollah Khamenei had warned that Iran would respond if the US proceeded to renew the ISA. “If these sanctions are extended, it will surely constitute a violation of the JCPOA (the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and they (US officials) must know that the Islamic Republic will definitely react to it,” the Leader had said.