Goodwill to save Iran deal not sanctions: IAEA hopeful
A candidate, who is running for the post of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief, has called for goodwill to be offered to Iran instead of sanctions in order to save the 2015 nuclear deal.
Marta Ziakova said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday that the nuclear deal signed between Iran and major world powers in 2015 — also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — can still be saved despite the US withdrawal only if Tehran is offered some goodwill instead of sanctions in exchange for return to the full implementation of its commitments under the landmark deal.
"The remaining parties so-called E3+2 countries including China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom, that are still committed to the deal should find a way to help Iran in this difficult situation (to show) that deals should be honored," Ziakova said.
"Iran hasn't got much for keeping its part of the deal so far but it has to return to the full implementation of its commitments under the deal… There is always a point of return," she added.
The 63-year-old Slovak also criticized the US withdrawal from the accord as “unfortunate.”
IAEA chief Yukiya Amano died in July and the organization's 35-nation Board of Governors aims to pick his successor from among four candidates this month.
Tensions have been running high between Iran and the US since May 2018, when President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out his country from the JCPOA and unleashed the “toughest ever” sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
The American president is a stern critic of the deal, which was clinched in July 2015 by Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, including the US, France, Britain, China, Russia, and Germany.
Since quitting the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, Trump has been running a "maximum pressure" campaign to force Iran into negotiating a new deal that addresses its ballistic missile program and regional influence.
Iran, which had been fully complying with all of its commitments despite the US withdrawal and the Europeans’ failure to abide by their obligations under the deal, began scaling down its commitments in early July.
Iran has already taken three separate calibrated steps away from the deal, and warned it will take a fourth in November unless the Europeans do something about their obligation to protect Tehran from US sanctions.
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