Al-Monitor- In an interview with Iranian State TV on Feb. 5 in which he discussed the 2015 nuclear deal, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that�he cannot claim that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)��could have been drafted better, but I can claim that the JCPOA was neither all the things we wanted nor all the things the other parties ��including the United States���sought. A number of the countries asked that [the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions] occur phase by phase, and they didn�t [want] the sanctions to be lifted immediately. But we insisted that all the nuclear-related sanctions be lifted all at once.�


Referring to US President Donald Trump�s moves against the landmark accord, the Iranian foreign minister said, �Before becoming the Republican Party�s candidate, Trump gave a speech and emphasized that if he were to become president, his priority would be�tearing up the JCPOA. Now, approximately 390 days into his presidency, such a thing hasn�t happened."

Zarif added, �The JCPOA, as an international document, has conditions that [have made] Trump�s entourage tell him that if he tears up the JCPOA, the United States will be isolated.�

Zarif said that despite Trump�s rhetoric against the nuclear deal, most of the foreign direct investment and financing contracts with Iran in the wake of the accord have been signed during the past year.

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