"I discussed the #JCPOA on its 5th anniversary during the #med2020 dialogue organised by @ispionline. We need to preserve the #Irandeal and I will continue to work in my role as coordinator of the Joint Commission," Josep Borrell said in a post on his official Twitter page on Saturday.
In his tweet, he provided a link of the full video of his virtual address to the annual Mediterranean Dialogues 2020 conference on July 14, concurrent with the fifth anniversary of the conclusion of the JCPOA.
"I am frankly convinced that we need to preserve this deal for two reasons. First, there is no other effective alternative around the corner. The idea that we can build another deal and we call it "Trump deal", it is not possible, you know," Borrell said to the participants at the time.
In his remarks, he pointed to the beginning of the discussions in 2003 which led to the conclusion of the JCPOA and said, "It took 12 years to break the differences and to cut a deal," and added that "it was a big success for effective multilateralism and it has been a success because the JCPOA has delivered on its promises."
He highlighted that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had in "15 consecutive reports" confirmed that "Iran has met all their nuclear obligations until June 2019."
Borrell emphasized that no administration, even in the United States, would be able to put on the table a peaceful alternative to the JCPOA.
The historic deal was reached between Iran and a group of countries then known as the P5+1 — which included the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany — on July 14, 2015. However, in May 2018, President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the JCPOA and re-imposed the sanctions that had been lifted under the deal.
Verified by the IAEA, Iran remained fully compliant with the JCPOA for an entire year, waiting for the co-signatories to honor their commitments and offset the impacts of the US withdrawal.
But, as the European parties continued to renege on their obligations, the Islamic Republic moved in May 2019 to suspend some of its JCPOA commitments under articles of the deal covering Tehran’s legal rights in case of non-compliance by the other side.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi said on July 18 that the three European signatories to the JCPOA have not abided by their commitments and this is why Iran has requested the activation of the deal’s dispute resolution mechanism in a letter to the European Union’s foreign policy chief.
Speaking on the fifth anniversary of the conclusion of the Iran deal on Wednesday, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said the country maneuvered with political skill following the United States’ withdrawal from the JCPOA to prove that “American lawbreakers” are to blame for any shortfalls with regard to the agreement.
“Since the beginning [of the diplomatic engagement], an evil triangle of Zionism, reactionism, and hard-liners in America were opposed [to diplomacy with Iran],” the Iranian president said, detailing attempts by the deal’s opponents to throw a wrench into the works as it was being negotiated and after its conclusion.