Rouhani: Iran Will Return to Nuclear Deal Within an Hour of US Doing So

The Iranian president says Iran will accept no preconditions to return to JCPOA

Reiterating his desire to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that Tehran could come into compliance with the agreement within an hour of the US doing so.

Rouhani also said that Iran would not accept any preconditions for returning to the deal, known as the JCPOA, including limitations on Iran’s ballistic missile program.

A stricter deal that includes Tehran’s missiles is a demand of Iran hawks in the Trump administration. Rouhani addressed this demand and his hopes for the incoming administration.

“The Americans were trying for months to add the missile issue and this was rejected,” Rouhani said of the 2015 JCPOA negotiations. “Trump was uninformed and did not know about the matter, but Mr. Biden is well aware of the details of the deal.”

Joe Biden has repeatedly said that he plans to work with Iran to return to the JCPOA and work on a follow-on agreement that deals with Iran’s missiles after the fact. “I have not heard Biden say that we have to reach another agreement in order to return to the nuclear deal, that is what Trump says,” Rouhani said.

In the final days of the Trump administration, there are a lot of forces at work hoping to sabotage Biden’s attempts to return to the JCPOA, including Israel, who is the likely perpetrator of the assassination of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Rouhani discussed Fakhrizadeh’s killing on Monday and accused Israel of trying to start a war. “Waging instability and war in the final days of the Trump administration was the main aim of the Zionist regime in the assassination,” he said.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.