U.S. Secretary of State: The Nuclear Deal with Iran Has Made the Region and the World Safer

John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, emphasized on Monday, December 6, that the nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers, which Donald Trump, the elected President of the United States, described as 'the worst deal ever,' has made 'the region and the world safer' over the past year. According to Reuters, Kerry, who is in Berlin, stated that with the conclusion of the Vienna nuclear agreement, 'the region is safer, Germany and the U.S. are safer, Europe is safer, Israel is safer, and the world is safer.' He also stressed that 'this depends on all of us maintaining it.' The U.S. Secretary of State added that Barack Obama, the President of the United States, has discussed this matter with Trump as well. Donald Trump, who was elected President of the United States last month and will take office on February 1, has stated during his campaign that the JCPOA is 'the worst deal he has ever seen' and that he would renegotiate it if he came to power. The Iranian nuclear deal, which resulted from over two years of intense negotiations between Iran and six world powers, has faced ambiguity with Trump's victory, and at the same time, Iranian officials are accusing the U.S. of blatant violations of the JCPOA due to the extension of Iran sanctions law in the U.S. Congress, with parliament members calling for reciprocal action in this regard. On Monday, during the opening ceremony of the nuclear security conference in Vienna, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization, announced that Tehran has so far adhered to its commitments under the JCPOA and will not be the initiator of any violations. However, according to ISNA, this Iranian official expressed regret over what he called 'some unreasonable behaviors and actions in the U.S.' and stated that 'if the JCPOA is violated by other parties, Iran's reaction will be decisive and severe.' Salehi also raised objections regarding the extension of the Iran sanctions law in a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of Energy during the Vienna conference. The 10-year extension of the Iran sanctions law was approved by a decisive majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and according to the White House, the President of the United States is also expected to endorse this measure. Nevertheless, John Kirby, the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, stated that this measure will in no way affect the process of lifting sanctions that Iran has achieved under the nuclear agreement and will not limit it. On Monday, Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian Foreign Minister, also emphasized in Beijing, the capital of China, that 'everyone must respect their commitments under the JCPOA and has no right to disregard it, and of course, we also have our choices in this regard.' According to the state news agency IRNA, Wang Yi, the Chinese Foreign Minister, also told reporters after meeting with Zarif that 'the implementation of the JCPOA is the responsibility of all relevant countries, and everyone must adhere to the commitments they made in this regard and in the JCPOA.' Earlier, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, in a meeting with the special envoy of the President of Russia for Syria, referred to the Vienna nuclear agreement as a seven-party agreement and stated that 'no country should be allowed to take actions to undermine the agreement according to its own desires.'