Hassan Rouhani: If the Remaining Five Countries Guarantee Iran's Interests, the JCPOA Will Remain

The President of Iran stated that if the five remaining countries in the JCPOA "guarantee that Iran's interests will be achieved by continuing the JCPOA," this agreement will remain in place despite the U.S. withdrawal. Hassan Rouhani made this remark on Sunday, May 13, during a joint press conference with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Maithripala Sirisena. He emphasized that if these five countries "fulfill their commitments and guarantee that Iran's interests will be achieved by continuing the JCPOA," the agreement will remain despite the wishes of the U.S. and Israel. Rouhani referred to China, Russia, France, Germany, and the UK, which reached a comprehensive agreement regarding Iran's nuclear program in July 2015 alongside the U.S. On May 8, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States was withdrawing from the JCPOA and imposing severe sanctions against Iran. This action faced widespread international criticism, and Iran condemned it. The Iranian President also described the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA as "a violation of ethics, politics, the correct diplomatic path, and international regulations." Hours after the U.S. withdrawal, Rouhani stated that the Islamic Republic would consider continuing the JCPOA without the U.S. However, the next day, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, expressed distrust towards the Europeans and stated that "definite guarantees" must be obtained from them. Several Friday prayer leaders in Iran, including Ahmad Khatami and Ahmad Alamolhoda, echoed the Supreme Leader's statements about the "unreliability of European countries" and called for Iran's withdrawal from the nuclear agreement. Despite these statements, the Iranian Foreign Minister traveled to China to negotiate the fate of the JCPOA and demanded that the Europeans provide guarantees regarding the preservation of Iran's interests in the JCPOA. Abbas Araghchi, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, also stated on Sunday that "the Europeans have 60 days to provide the necessary guarantees regarding the protection of Iran's interests and compensating for the damages caused by the U.S. withdrawal." He mentioned that if the Europeans do not provide guarantees, the decision regarding the future will be up to senior officials of the regime. Therefore, negotiations with China, Russia, and the three European countries began with Zarif's trip. The European Union had previously stated in a statement that as long as Iran remains committed to the agreement, the EU will not reinstate its sanctions. Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French Foreign Minister, called the extraterritorial nature of U.S. sanctions against Tehran "unacceptable" and emphasized that Europeans should not bear the cost of the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA. However, Heiko Maas, the German Foreign Minister, stated that protecting companies engaged in trade with Iran from the damage caused by the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions against Tehran would be difficult. Regarding potential measures by the European Union, as the French Finance Minister stated on Friday, Europeans are working on three specific proposals, one of which involves updating the European blocking statute enacted in 1996, which allows for countering extraterritorial sanctions. This regulation, which was enacted at that time to circumvent sanctions against Cuba, allows European companies and courts not to comply with sanctions from third countries and stipulates that judgments issued by non-European courts will not be enforced within the EU. The other two proposals involve efforts to achieve financial independence for the European Union from the U.S. and establishing an office similar to OFAC in the EU to examine the activities of foreign companies and their compliance with the decisions of the EU.