Zarif: We are prepared to resume nuclear activities if the JCPOA is violated

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, in an interview that will be broadcast on CBS News on Sunday, April 21, stated that the option to resume Iran's nuclear activities 'more rapidly' is not off the table if the U.S. withdraws from the agreement. Donald Trump, the President of the United States, has called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) the worst deal possible and has set a deadline for 'fixing the flaws of the JCPOA' which ends on May 12. Zarif, who is currently in New York, told CBS in the program 'Face the Nation' hosted by Margaret Brennan that Iran will not be the first to violate the agreement, but the other parties must know that if they violate the JCPOA, they will regret their actions. In this interview, the host asked Zarif: 'It seems that your statement is that your decision depends on President Trump's next step. This means you are waiting to see what he does on May 12 and whether he will re-impose sanctions against Iran or not, and then you will decide what the consequences will be?' Zarif replied: 'We have several options in mind that are ready, and these options include resuming our nuclear activities at a much faster pace than before.' He added: 'All of these options are provided for in the agreement and are ready to be implemented, and we will make the necessary decision at the appropriate time.' The host further asked Zarif, 'If President Trump re-sanctions Iran, are you ready to resume your nuclear program? Even if the rest of the world says do not do it?' Zarif responded: 'It is clear that when the agreement has collapsed, the rest of the world cannot ask us to implement it unilaterally and one-sidedly.' The Iranian Foreign Minister had also stated on April 20 that the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA would have 'very unpleasant' consequences for Washington. As the deadline for the U.S. to extend the suspension of sanctions approaches, and also the deadline for the U.S. to its European counterparts to address what the White House sees as flaws in the JCPOA, diplomatic efforts to keep the U.S. in the JCPOA have increased. Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, and Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, are scheduled to travel to the U.S. this week to discuss the JCPOA with the U.S. President. Western powers and Iran had previously reached an agreement regarding the JCPOA under conditions where the West was concerned about the possibility of Iran building a nuclear bomb through high-level uranium enrichment, and Iran deemed the sanctions resulting from this concern as 'oppressive' and called for their removal. On Saturday, April 21, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, also commented on the possibility of resuming uranium enrichment by the Islamic Republic, stating: 'Whenever the system decides, we are ready to move like an army, although we hope the other side comes to its senses and does not do anything that would get both itself and others into trouble.' According to IRNA, Salehi, who was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting in Tehran, responded to a question about the capabilities of the Atomic Energy Organization in the event of the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA, saying: 'As the President stated, we are technically prepared for all scenarios.' The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization stated that 'one of the matters we previously informed the other side about is Iran's ability to resume 20% enrichment within four days,' adding: 'We are prepared in such a way that the other side will be astonished.' The mutual threats from the U.S. and Iran regarding the JCPOA come at a time when Eshaq Jahangiri, the first vice president, spoke on April 12 about the negative impact of this trend on the morale of the Iranian people and the value of the Iranian currency. He reminded that the 'sense of hope' in society positively affected the country's financial market at the time of the JCPOA signing, accusing 'foreign countries' of wanting to spread a sense of hopelessness among the people. The recent currency crisis in Iran has caused the dollar in the market to exceed six thousand tomans, and Hassan Rouhani's government has resorted to issuing directives and cracking down on currency exchange offices to counter this trend. Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, stated on Saturday that his government's currency decisions were a 'preemptive slap' in connection with the U.S. deadline regarding the JCPOA.