US ‘Bullying Behavior’ Killing JCPOA, Iran’s Deputy FM Warns

Speaking at a forum at Ankara-based Institute of Strategic Thinking (SDE) on Wednesday, Araqchi said Iran gave enough chances to the diplomacy on the deal but “enough is enough. Iran’s patient is running out.”

The US withdrawal from the deal is a violation of UN Security Council resolution, he told the forum, themed “Iran, the region and International Developments.”

Last year, US President Donald Trump withdrew his country from the landmark deal.

Shortly afterward, Washington re-imposed economic sanctions on Iran targeting the country’s energy and banking sectors.

Araqchi stressed that Iran had honored the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“Even worse, the US is calling other countries including other members of the Security Council to do the same and violate the Security Council resolution,” he said.

“People in Iran and in the region are losing their confidence to the engagement. The diplomacy and negotiation are losing the ground and the concept of resistance is gaining the ground due to the US policy on the region,” he said.

Speaking on the US move to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a “terrorist organization”, Araqchi said, “We normally have reciprocated by naming the US Central Command (CENTCOM) as a terrorist organization.

“The two forces are facing each other in different places in the region, particularly in the Persian Gulf, he said, adding, “If anything happened, the responsibility will only be on shoulders of Americans.”

On April 8, the US administration designated IRGC a “foreign terrorist group”, in a move that marked the first time a government agency has been blacklisted.

Also commenting on Turkey-Iran relations, the Iranian deputy foreign minister underlined that the two countries are close to each other more than any time in the past.

“The two countries have very similar positions regarding questions in our region and at the international level. Our bilateral relations is moving very good on mutual interest of both sides,” he said.

Meanwhile, touching upon the recent developments in Syria, he said the security in Syria has improved. “The terrorist elements and terrorist forces are mostly defeated in different areas thanks to Astana format in Kazakhstan where Turkey, Iran and Russia are working together,” Araqchi added.

The Astana process has been successful in bringing a ceasefire in Syria and led to the creation of de-escalation zones.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating foreign-backed conflict that began in early 2011.

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