Iran Will Not Renegotiate JCPOA

A top Iranian diplomat and the deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, stated on January 12 that Iran will not under any circumstances “renegotiate” the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that was reached between Iran and world powers in July 2015.

Takht-Ravanchi’s comments were in response to the January 11 statement made by Rex Tillerson who is nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to become the next Secretary of State. Tillerson had remarked that he would “comprehensively review” the JCPOA. But Takht-Ravanchi is now hitting back, and stated that “[Iran] has repeatedly made it clear that under no circumstances will the JCPOA file be reopened,” he said.

Takht-Ravanchi, a close confidant of Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, has been one of the most ardent supporters of the JCPOA on the Iranian side. His categorical rejection of any notion of reopening of the JCPOA under the Trump administration is a sign of the pressure the Zarif team are under in Tehran if they appear to succumb to any American pressure. The narrative to be expected from the Zarif team is that the JCPOA was a multilateral agreement and as such cannot simply be abrogated by one party.