Prominent MP: US breached Geneva nuclear deal, Iran should react

Tehran, Dec 14, IRNA – A prominent Iranian lawmaker here Friday criticized inclusion of some Iranian firms in US sanctions list, saying the Americans have thus breached the recent Geneva nuclear accord; urging the Iranian concerned officials to accelerated peaceful activities. “Beyond doubt the recent US move – inclusion of a number of other Iranian and non-Iranian companies and personalities in US sanctions list on pretext of nuclear activities – is obvious breaching of the Geneva nuclear deal and that country’s officials thus showed that they are not trustworthy,” said Ala’eddin Boroujerdi. The recent US move proved that the United States is in practice a follower of the Zionist lobby, although it claims to be a superpower, and is incapable of acting independently in its policymaking, said the chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. Supporting the Islamic Republic’s Friday move in asking the Iranian nuclear negotiation team to return to Tehran from Vienna, Austria, he said, “That ministry’s move in this respect was quite a logical and revolutionary move.” Addressing every concerned official in Iran and abroad, including the Foreign Ministry officials, Boroujerdi said, “The Iranian nation and the Parliament members will not retreat from asking for Iran’s national interests and rights in the nuclear field the slightest bit.” He added that the shed blood of the innocent martyred nuclear scientists is another reason why Iran should stand firm for materializing its denied rights, asking the nuclear negotiations team to defend the national interest resolutely. The chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission emphasized that the future of the negotiations depends on the western countries’ actual deeds, and particularly the United States. “Keeping in mind the antagonist approach of that country and the recent breaching of the Geneva agreements, we cannot remain optimist about the future of the nuclear negotiations, and it is necessary to further accelerate the peaceful nuclear activities of the country adopting the required decisions,” he said. The United States targeted more than a dozen companies and people on Thursday for evading sanctions against Iran, an effort by the Obama administration to show it will enforce existing law even as it presses Congress to hold off on additional measures while world powers pursue a comprehensive nuclear deal with Tehran. The action freezes the US assets of firms in Panama, Singapore, Ukraine and elsewhere for maintaining covert business with Iranˈs national tanker company. Other companies involved directly in deals with Iran also were blacklisted from the US market. American citizens are banned from any transactions with the listed individuals and firms, the AP reported. The announcement by the Treasury and State departments comes as the administration is furiously lobbying lawmakers to refrain from any new package of sanctions on Iran after last monthˈs interim nuclear agreement in Geneva. As part of the deal, the US agreed to “no new nuclear-related financial penalties against Tehran for six months”, and Iranˈs foreign minister has warned that “any such action could kill the diplomatic effort.” Still, many Republicans and Democrats in Congress have called for even tougher measures to raise the pressure further on the Islamic Republic, despite the administrationˈs pleas for patience.