Tasnim – A senior Iranian lawmaker rejected recent calls by the US and French presidents for major changes to the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, and said the Islamic Republic will never accept any further annex to the deal.


Spokesperson for the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Naqavi Hosseini told Tasnim that from Iran’s point of view, such comments by the US and French presidents about renegotiating the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), are rejected.

“The Islamic Republic will never accept the addition of any article to the JCPOA,” he said.

The lawmaker further pointed to the possibility of a US withdrawal from the nuclear deal and said that if the US leaves the agreement, Iran will, too.

“Basically, the JCPOA would be meaningless to us without the US,” the parliamentarian said.

French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump have indicated they want to aim for a new deal to curb Iran's ballistic missiles program that would run alongside the existing international nuclear pact, according to media reports.

Iran has repeatedly underlined that test of missiles is an issue relating to defense of its territorial integrity and has nothing to do with the JCPOA.

Trump in January set a 120-day deadline for US lawmakers and European allies to “fix” the JCPOA or face a US exit from his predecessor Barack Obama's main foreign policy achievement.

Since the historic deal was signed by Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) in Vienna in July 2015, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly confirmed the Islamic Republic’s compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA, but some other parties, especially the US, have failed to live up to their undertakings.