Salehi: We Will Not Take Action Until the Implementation Day of the JCPOA

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization, explained recent remarks by Mohammad Javad Zarif, the foreign minister, emphasizing that Iran will not take any nuclear action until 'the day of the implementation of the JCPOA.' According to ISNA, Salehi stated on Monday, September 9, that 'perhaps' Zarif meant to specify the end date of the agreement. Salehi's comments followed Zarif's statements during a trip to Isfahan last week, where he stressed that the Islamic Republic's 'limitations' under the nuclear agreement would last for '10 years' and that 'from the first day of Mehr, after 10 years, Iran's file will officially be closed.' Salehi further explained, 'He [Zarif] used the first of Mehr this year as a reference point, but when we operationalize the JCPOA depends on when the implementation day will be.' Salehi added, 'If we consider 90 days from July 14, it would be around mid-Mehr. However, after that day, a period must be allocated for Iran's actions to reach the implementation day of the JCPOA. Whether we consider the first of Mehr or another time, this 10 years plus or minus 30 days does not make much difference.' Zarif's comments regarding the official closure of Iran's file previously drew reactions from some sources close to conservatives. For instance, the Rajanews website wrote that 'the government will not be allowed to implement the Vienna agreement until the results of the JCPOA review are announced by legal authorities.' Salehi also stated that 'the JCPOA is certainly not flawless,' noting that 'there may be aspects that would have been better if they did not exist.' He added that global powers managed to 'somewhat limit' Iran in terms of 'the number of centrifuges, enrichment levels, and uranium reserves' because they are concerned that Iran's breakout time could be less than a year. Under the nuclear agreement, in exchange for the limitations and inspections accepted by the Islamic Republic regarding its nuclear program, many sanctions against Iran and its officials will be lifted. However, in the U.S., Congress is currently reviewing the nuclear agreement, with Republicans holding the majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate opposing it. A negative vote from Congress on the nuclear agreement could be overridden by the President's veto, provided that less than two-thirds of the members of the House and Senate vote against it, and Barack Obama has threatened from the outset of the opposition that he will veto any negative vote from Congress on this agreement. In Iran, however, the Parliament and the Supreme National Security Council are reviewing the nuclear agreement while Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, has stated that the fate of the agreement in Iran 'is still unclear.'