Iran has rejected claims made by US Secretary of State John Kerry who said Tehran’s support for resistance groups is impeding the removal of obstacles to the country’s international banking transactions.
“John Kerry’s remarks are nothing but an excuse for the US to avoid carrying its JCPOA commitments,” said Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who is the head of the JCPOA follow-up committee, on Sunday.
Iran and the P5+1 group of countries signed the nuclear deal, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on July 2015. The deal went into effect on January 16, and resolved a long-running dispute over the Iranian nuclear program.
Under the JCPOA, the Islamic Republic has agreed to roll back certain aspects of its nuclear program — including the volume of its uranium stockpiles enriched to the 20-percent level — and has provided international atomic monitors enhanced access to its nuclear facilities. In return, Iran’s partners agreed to terminate all nuclear-related sanctions against Iran.
Araqchi stressed that Kerry’s remarks are “absolutely wrong and incorrect” as the US must grant Tehran access to financial, banking, technology and commerce markets according to its commitments stipulated in the JCPOA.
“In the JCPOA, they accepted to avoid carrying out any action which would hinder the normalization of commercial and banking ties with Iran,” he said.
Araqchi went on to note that the US must refrain from using excuses for hindrances in JCPOA’s implementation, and they are by no means acceptable to Iran.