As you are aware, on 8 May 2018, the President of the United States announced his unilateral and unlawful decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in material breach of Security Council resolution 2231 (2015), to which the JCPOA is annexed. Simultaneously, he signed a presidential memorandum instructing relevant US authorities “to cease the participation of the United States in the JCPOA” and “to reimpose all United States sanctions lifted or waived in connection with the JCPOA”, thus committing multiple cases of “significant non-performance” with the JCPOA, and in clear non-compliance with Security Council resolution 2231 (2015). These acts constitute a complete disregard for international law and the Charter of the United Nations, undermine the principle of the peaceful settlement of disputes, endanger multilateralism and its institutions, indicate a regress to the failed and disastrous era of unilateralism, and encourage intransigence and illegality.

Unlike the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has scrupulously fulfilled its undertakings under the JCPOA, as repeatedly and consistently verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United States has consistently failed — since “implementation day”, and particularly after the assumption of office by President Trump — to abide by its commitments under the JCPOA. I have brought the most significant cases of US non-performance to the attention of the Joint Commission, inter alia, through 12 official letters to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, in her capacity as Coordinator of the JCPOA Joint Commission.

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In my letter dated today, I specified measures that need to be taken through the Joint Commission to address the wrongful acts by the United States against Iran and international law, including its unlawful withdrawal from the accord and the reimposition of sanctions. 

As you have seen from these correspondences, the United States had been persistently violating the terms of the agreement almost from its inception, eve n preventing other JCPOA participants from fully performing their obligations. Those violations included systematic failures, late, lackluster, defective, superficial and ineffective nominal implementation, undue delays, new sanctions and designations, derogatory anti-JCPOA statements by senior officials — in particular the President himself — refusal to issue any Office of Foreign Assets Control licences in the past 16 months, as well as concerted efforts by the US Government’s agencies and instrumentalities to actively dissuade businesses from engagement with Iran.

The unlawful US act of unwarranted withdrawal from the JCPOA renders it responsible for the most blatant material breach of its obligations under the agreement. The US has also flagrantly violated Security Council resolution 2231 (2015), which was sponsored, inter alia, by the United States itself and adopted unanimously by the Council. The United States must, therefore, be held accountable for the consequences of its reckless and wrongful act, which flies in the face of the United Nations Charter and international law. 

The prolonged and multiple cases of significant non-performance by the US over the last three years — particularly in the last 16 months — its active obstruction of performance by other JCPOA participants, its bad faith nominal implementation, and its unlawful and unwarranted cessation of implementation of its commitments under the JCPOA and the official reimposition of unlawful sanctions have caused irreparable harm to Iran and its international business relations. The United States should be held responsible for these damages, and the Iranian nation must be compensated. 

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Read the full letter below.