Pezeshkian: We are ready for dialogue; Iran will respond to any action against its nuclear facilities’
In an exclusive interview with the American NBC News, President Masoud Pezzekian emphasized, “Iran is ready to talk to the second Trump administration,” while referring to the US’s breach of commitment in the JCPOA nuclear agreement and that “the US is seeking to overthrow the Iranian government, not solve problems.”
He also emphasized in another part of the interview that “we are not afraid of war, but we are not looking for it either. I fully hope that this does not happen because it will be to the detriment of all actors, not just us.”
Pezzekian’s reference to the US’s breach of commitment in the nuclear agreement refers to the Donald Trump administration’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 from the “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” known as the JCPOA; an action that was contrary to all international law and UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
Although Iran had fulfilled all of its commitments in the JCPOA, Donald Trump, with the US’s withdrawal from the JCPOA in May 2018, once again reinstated all sanctions that the JCPOA had suspended; The Joe Biden administration, despite claiming to be critical of Trump’s move before entering the White House in 2020, has never been serious about negotiations in the past four years, despite Iran’s goodwill.
“The issue is not the talks themselves, it is the commitments that come from the talks and that we must commit to; when Iran talked to the major powers about its nuclear program, we adhered to all the commitments that we had to commit to. Unfortunately, the other side did not fulfill its promises and commitments. We suspect that no matter how much we engage in talks and negotiations, they are trying to overthrow the government, not solve the problems,” Pezizian said.
After the US withdrew from the JCPOA, the Europeans and other parties to the JCPOA promised Iran that they would compensate for the economic damage caused by Washington’s withdrawal from the JCPOA. Still, after a year, the Europeans’ inaction became apparent, and in response to this arbitrary US action, Iran unilaterally reduced its nuclear commitments in the JCPOA in five stages in May 2019; now, with the development of Iran’s peaceful program, some US officials have claimed to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.