Rouhani Rejects Boris Johnson Proposal To Replace JCPOA with Trump Deal

Jan. 15, 2020 (EIRNS)—The Iranian response to the European statement on referring Iran to the dispute-resolution mechanism of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s suggestion to take up President Donald Trump’s proposal for the signers of the JCPOA, including Russia and China, to come together again to negotiate a new deal with Iran, have both drawn negative responses from Iran.

“Europe must choose the right path and return to the nuclear deal,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a statement shown live on state TV. “Mr. Johnson, I don’t know what he’s thinking when he says that instead of the nuclear deal, we should implement a Trump plan. Other than violate international contracts, what else has Trump done?” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, “The usage of the dispute mechanism is legally baseless and a strategic mistake from a political standpoint.”

Iran, in the aftermath of the U.S. assassination of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, has also ramped up its efforts to create the conditions under which the U.S. military will be forced out of the region. While the effort is focused mainly diplomatically, the security aspect has in no way been diminished by the U.S.-Iranian climb-down from war last week. “I advise Europe and the U.S. not to fuel regional problems,” Rouhani said during a cabinet meeting today. “Today, American troops are not safe in the region, and European troops may also be insecure tomorrow,” Rouhani continued, and called on all foreign military forces to leave the region without a war, reported Tasnim news agency.

In remarks yesterday during a meeting with Syrian Prime Minister Imad Khamis in Tehran, Rouhani stressed his point that the U.S. military must leave the region. “We will never forget such a grave U.S. crime [the Soleimani assassination] and believe that regional nations should not relax until ending the military presence of the U.S. in the region and evicting those invaders,” Tasnim quoted him as saying. “Today, the Americans’ interference in the affairs of other countries and their attempts to seize Syria’s oil wells have clearly revealed that they’ve never cared about the interests of regional nations.”