BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 13. The US should acknowledge the reality that Iran has consistently shown resistance to pressure tactics, newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said, addressing the world community, TurkicWorld reports.
According to Pezeshkian, in 2015, Iran joined the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, demonstrating goodwill by fully implementing all its commitments.
"However, the United States withdrew from the deal unlawfully and imposed unilateral sanctions, inflicting hundreds of billions of dollars in damage to Iran's economy. It's important to emphasize that Iran's defense doctrine does not include the production of nuclear weapons. I urge the United States to adopt a new policy in accordance with these facts," the Iranian president said.
In January 2016, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran's nuclear program was finalized between Iran and the P5+1 group (the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany). However, in May 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the plan and subsequently imposed sanctions on Iran in November of the same year. In response, Iran declared in 2020 its intention to cease compliance with certain provisions of the nuclear deal.
By the end of 2020, citing the impact of sanctions, Iran's parliament decided to initiate a Nuclear Strategic Plan aimed at lifting these sanctions. Following a parliamentary decision on February 23 of that year, Iran suspended the implementation of additional steps and the Additional Protocol as outlined in the nuclear agreement. Consequently, the verification mechanisms by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were reduced by approximately 20–30 percent.