MNA – Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Sat. that Iran agreed to stay in the nuclear deal after US pullout, but has its doubts about the efficacy of Europe’s counter-measures against US sanctions.







Speaking at a national festival on Saturday in Tehran, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Iran made the wise decision to reach an agreement on its nuclear program in order to both preserve its nuclear know-how and prevent an economic pressure against its people, but voiced regret that the new US administration decided to violate the agreement.

“After the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, leaders of European countries contacted us and requested that we stay in the nuclear agreement,” said Larijani. “Although we had a right to leave the agreement as was consistent with the deal.”

He went on to add, “Europe assured us that they would make arrangements in a way that would prevent us from taking damage, but we had our doubts that they had the power to do so.”

Larijani maintained that Iran agreed to make some time for holding negotiations with the EU on the nuclear deal. He said it was wise of the Islamic Republic to set a time restriction for the talks to reach a conclusion.

The Iranian senior parliamentary official said the three European sides to the nuclear deal have offered a “good prospect” in countering US economic sanctions against Iran, but “it is still uncertain what they will do in practice, therefore we have to come up with our own mechanisms to manage the country.”

“All our efforts in safeguarding our nuclear technology are concentrated on having the least amount of pressure exerted against our people,” Larijani said in defense of Iran’s decision to hold talks with EU instead of leaving the nuclear agreement after the US' unilateral and unlawful withdrawal.