Chinese President Calls for Preservation of JCPOA in Meeting with Rouhani

Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, called for the continuation of the implementation of the JCPOA to ensure security in the Middle East and maintain the international non-proliferation regime. The two leaders met on Sunday, June 9, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Qingdao, China. In this meeting, Xi Jinping considered the JCPOA an important result of multilateralism and stated, "This agreement lays the groundwork for peace and stability in the Middle East and preserves the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, and therefore must continue to be implemented sincerely." He described his country's approach as peaceful resolution of international disputes and sensitive issues, adding that "China is ready to strengthen cooperation with Iran within the framework of multilateralism and is prepared to promote a new form of international relations." Hassan Rouhani had traveled to China in recent days to participate in the summit of the heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Among the members of this organization, China and Russia were present in the nuclear talks that led to the JCPOA agreement in 2015. In the meeting with the Chinese president, Rouhani referred to Xi Jinping's visit to Tehran in 2016 as a "new turning point" in bilateral relations and considered China as Iran's largest trading partner in recent years. He also called China's role in reaching the nuclear agreement significant and effective, stating, "Now, Beijing's role in strengthening the JCPOA and ensuring commitments by other parties is very important." The Iranian president also emphasized the completion of the Arak heavy water reactor, which has been entrusted to the Chinese. Iran agreed under the JCPOA to redesign the IR-40 reactor at the Arak facility with the help of the P5+1 countries to alleviate concerns about plutonium. Iran also accepted to pour concrete in part of the reactor core during the redesign and to install a different core instead. This redesign has been entrusted to China. In this context, Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization, announced on Sunday that a delegation from Iran had traveled to China last week for the redesign of the Arak reactor. According to this official, the design stages of the reactor are nearly complete and have reached the "detailed design" phase. At the Shanghai summit, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also accompanied Rouhani. Zarif identified one of the achievements of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting as support for the JCPOA and discussions with the presidents of China and Russia to preserve Iran's economic interests in the agreement. After the Trump administration's withdrawal from the JCPOA, Tehran has given other P5+1 members, especially European countries, a "few weeks' deadline" to preserve the agreement by ensuring Iran's interests. Following the U.S. exit from the nuclear agreement, U.S. banking and oil sanctions will be enforced in 90 and 180-day intervals against Iran, and in this regard, the U.S. has asked international companies to cease cooperation with Iran. In recent days and weeks, major companies such as Total, Maersk, Peugeot, General Electric, Honeywell, Boeing, Lukoil, Reliance, Davor Corporation, and Siemens have announced they are halting cooperation with Iran due to fears of sanctions.