US Return To JCPOA Irrelevant Until Sanctions On Iran Remain In Place - Khamenei

Iran does not insist that the US return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but demands that unilateral sanctions be lifted, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday

TEHRAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th January, 2021) Iran does not insist that the US return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but demands that unilateral sanctions be lifted, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday.

On December 21, the members of the JCPOA expressed their readiness to support the US potential return to the agreement, something that has been widely speculated upon after Joe Biden � who was the US vice president at the time the nuclear deal was negotiated � was elected the next US president.

"We do not insist on [the US] return to the JCPOA, do not rush with this. It is not our business whether the US will return to the JCPOA. Our demand is the lifting of the sanctions. It is the right gained by the Iranian people," Khamenei said in a video address.

The supreme leader stressed that Washington's return to the JCPOA would have sense only if the sanctions were lifted.

According to Khamenei, there was no sense for Tehran to fulfill its commitments set out in the agreement, given that the other signatory countries failed to adhere to the JCPOA.

The supreme leader added that Iran would return to compliance once other members do the same.

In 2015, Iran signed the JCPOA with China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the EU. It required Iran to scale back its nuclear program and severely downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including lifting the arms embargo five years after the deal's adoption. In 2018, the US abandoned its conciliatory stance on Iran, withdrawing from the JCPOA and implementing hard-line policies against Tehran.

In December, Iran passed a law to increase its uranium enrichment and stop UN inspections of its nuclear sites in response to the killing of nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. On Monday, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said that the country succeeded in enriching uranium at 20 percent at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, while the JCPOA limited the uranium enrichment level in Iran under 3.67 percent.