France reaffirms commitment to JCPOA

Tehran, July 5, IRNA – French Foreign Ministry in a statement on Sunday reaffirmed commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. France's statement was in reaction to a letter forwarded by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s to EU High Representative Josep Borrell on invoking Dispute Resolution Mechanism envisaged by the context of the JCPOA. By invoking DRM, Zarif expressed dismay of the Islamic Republic of Iran at lack of respect to the nuclear deal and failure of France, UK and German Governments to honor their commitments. France together with Germany and the UK are committed to preserve Iran nuclear deal, French Foreign Ministry said adding that they respect their commitments to the JCPOA. We have even taken step for supporting legitimate trade with Iran, it added. Without referring to European parties’ impracticality with regard to their commitments, the French Foreign Ministry urged Iran to return to its JCPOA commitments. We negotiated with Iran and other JCPOA parties based on a basic and realistic approach, the statement reads. Zarif in a letter to the High Representative of the European Union Josep Borrell once again referred the cases of European countries' non-compliance to the Joint Commission for settlement in accordance with Article 36 of the JCPOA. Iranian Foreign Minister's letter warned that any interference in the ongoing cooperation between Iran and the IAEA would be contrary to the provisions of the JCPOA and could have negative impacts on the existing cooperation under the Safeguards Agreement. Meanwhile earlier, Borrell said in a statement that he believes the JCPOA is an historic achievement for global nuclear non-proliferation contributing to regional and global peace and security. “I have received today a letter from the Foreign Minister of Iran referring Iran’s concerns regarding implementation issues by France, Germany and the United Kingdom under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to the Joint Commission for resolution through the Dispute Resolution Mechanism, as set out in paragraph 36 of the agreement,” Borrell’s statement reads. “As I have said previously, the Dispute Resolution Mechanism requires intensive efforts in good faith by all. As Coordinator of the Joint Commission, I expect all JCPOA participants to approach this process in this spirit within the framework of the JCPOA.” “The Joint Commission, which is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the agreement under the terms of the JCPOA, has met since 2016 to discuss the implementation of the JCPOA and address pertinent issues brought to the attention of the Coordinator by any participant.”