Iran 'ready for return' to nuclear deal compliance

TEHERAN－Iran is ready to return to full compliance with a landmark nuclear deal with world powers as soon as the other parties honor their commitments, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday.

The 2015 agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, between Iran and major powers has teetered on the brink of collapse since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from it in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

US President-elect Joe Biden has expressed readiness to return to the agreement but over the past 18 months Iran has suspended the implementation of some of its own obligations, including key limits to its uranium enrichment program.

"Just as soon as the 5+1 or 4+1 resume all of their commitments, we will resume all of ours," Rouhani said.

He was referring to the five veto-wielding permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany with whom Iran reached the nuclear deal.

"I've said it before－it doesn't take time, it's just a question of willing," he said in comments to his cabinet aired by state television.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Wednesday that China hopes the new US administration will rejoin the nuclear deal as soon as possible and end its sanctions.

"China hopes the United States will return to the JCPOA unconditionally and as soon as possible, resume the honoring of its obligations and lift all relevant sanctions," said Zhao.

Rouhani also reiterated his determination to seize the "opportunity" presented by the change of US president in January, despite the Iranian parliament having passed a bill last week that threatens the prospects for a thaw in relations with Washington.

The bill, which still has to be signed into law by Rouhani, would increase Iran's enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity and threaten other future measures that would likely sound the death knell of the nuclear deal.

But in his comments on Wednesday, Rouhani appeared to suggest that he would withhold his signature from the bill, Agence France-Presse said.

"It is vital that we speak with a single voice," the president told ministers.

On the same day, Rouhani also said his country will produce and sell around 2.3 million barrels per day of oil in the next year on the Iranian calendar, which starts on March 21.

Commenting on the budget bill that his government submitted to the parliament last week, he said that calculations are not based on whether Iran will or will not hold talks or reach an agreement with other countries.

Health supplies hindered

Rouhani said Iran remained unable to purchase COVID-19 vaccines because banks were unwilling to process the transaction for fear of falling foul of US sanctions.

Last week, Iran said it is working on its own vaccine, with testing on human patients expected to begin next month. It plans to buy 20 million vaccine doses from abroad, for a population of more than 80 million people.

Iran is the Middle Eastern country hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 51,000 deaths from nearly 1.1 million cases, according to official figures.

Vaccines and other humanitarian goods are supposed to be exempt from the US sanctions but in practice few if any banks are willing to take the chance.

"We want to buy the vaccine ...the money is... ready but no bank will handle the transaction," Rouhani told ministers.

Agencies - Xinhua