Iran should benefit from JCPOA Britain ‘resolute’ in boosting ties with Iran
President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday expressed dissatisfaction over the benefits Iran is deriving from the 2015 nuclear deal, as he met British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in Tehran.
Rouhani told Johnson that Iran expects other signatories to the deal, including Britain, to “demonstrate determination to bolster cooperation and relations” with Iran in the wake of the landmark agreement, which is formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“The implementation and continuation of the JCPOA is of critical importance and we believe all, especially the Iranian nation, should be able benefit from the deal,” Rouhani said.
He also criticized the British top diplomat for not doing more to build on the nuclear accord.
“Relations between the two countries have not matched the potential expected in the POST-JCPOA atmosphere,” Rouhani told Johnson.
The British minister said London is determined to boost relations with Tehran in all areas.
He hailed the JCPOA as a positive deal that should be preserved.
In a series of meetings over two days, Johnson took flak from other Iranian officials.
There was similar criticism from Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, who met with Johnson on Saturday and said other European countries had put in “much more effort.”
“You haven’t even solved the banking problems of the Iranian Embassy in London,” Larijani said.
A spokeswoman for Britain’s Foreign Office said that both Rouhani and Johnson “spoke forthrightly about the obstacles in the relationship and agreed on the need to make progress in all areas.”
Johnson met Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization earlier on Sunday.
“In both meetings the foreign secretary discussed the full range of regional and bilateral issues, including banking matters,” the spokeswoman said.
“It has been a worthwhile visit and we leave with a sense that both sides want to keep up the momentum to resolve the difficult issues in the bilateral relationship and preserve the nuclear deal,” the Foreign Office spokeswoman added.
Iran has been irritated that the nuclear deal, which lifted sanctions in exchange for curbs to its nuclear program, has not produced the expected windfall in trade deals – mainly due to continuing US sanctions.
That deal is under threat after US President Donald Trump decided to decertify Iran’s compliance with its terms.
Johnson told his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday that he believed the deal should be fully implemented.
Johnson concluded what was the third visit to Iran by a British foreign minister in the past 14 years. He left later on Sunday for the United Arab Emirates.
AFP and Reuters contributed to this story. New protests flared in the Middle East and elsewhere on Sunday over US President Donald Trump’s declaration of Beitul-moqaddas as Israel’s capital, a move that has drawn global condemnation.
Trump’s announcement on Wednesday has been followed by days of protests and clashes in the Palestinian territories. Four Palestinians were killed either in clashes or from Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, AFP wrote.
Palestinian health officials say more than 1,100 people were wounded from tear gas, rubber bullets, live fire and other means from Thursday to Saturday.
There have been fears of a much larger escalation of violence after Hamas leader, Ismail Haniya, called for a new Palestinian Intifada, or uprising.
Tens of thousands have also protested in Muslim and Arab countries, including Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan and Malaysia. Further protests were held in Lebanon, Indonesia, Egypt and the Palestinian territories on Sunday.
Lebanese security forces fired tear gas and water cannons at several hundred demonstrators near the US Embassy.
Protestors waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags, and sporting black-and-white checked keffiyeh scarves, chanted slogans against Trump. Several people were injured by rocks, tear gas, and rubber bullets.
A group of demonstrators set alight an effigy of the US president, whose decision has upended decades of American diplomacy and an international consensus to leave the status of Beit-ul-moqaddas to be resolved in negotiations.
In Jakarta, some 5,000 Indonesians protested in solidarity with the Palestinians, gathering outside the US Embassy in the world’s most-populous Muslim country.
In Cairo, students and professors demonstrated at the prestigious Al-azhar University, a university spokesman said, with pictures on social media showing several hundred protesters. Dozens of students protested at two other Cairo universities.
A protest and clashes also broke out in Al-arroub refugee camp in the south of the occupied West Bank, leaving one Palestinian wounded from rubber bullets, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Trump’s declaration has been followed by near universal condemnation and diplomatic fallout, with warnings it risks setting off a new round of violence in the turbulent Middle East.
US Vice President Mike Pence is due to visit the region later this month, but Palestinian officials say President Mahmud Abbas will refuse to meet him.
Egypt’s Coptic Pope Tawadros II canceled a meeting with Pence as well, saying Trump’s announcement had failed to take into account the “feelings of millions” of Arabs.
US isolated
Arab League foreign ministers on Saturday called on the United States to rescind the move.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-maliki has said the Palestinians will be looking for a new peace talks broker instead of the United States and would seek a United Nations Security Council resolution over Trump’s decision.
In Rome, Pope Francis called on Sunday for “wisdom and prudence,” asking world leaders “to avert a new spiral of violence.”
Trump said his defiant move marked the start of a “new approach” to solving the Israeli-palestinian conflict. But Washington has found itself increasingly isolated on the global stage.
Five European countries on the Security Council insisted the new US policy was inconsistent with past resolutions, including one declaring East Beit-ul-moqaddas to be Israelioccupied.
The UN meeting was largely symbolic as no vote on a resolution was planned because the US wields veto power.