TEHRAN – New Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Sunday that Tehran does not oppose the “principle of negotiation” to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The United States under Donald Trump quit the JCPOA in May 2018 and slapped the harshest sanctions in history against Iran in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

Iran remained fully loyal to the terms of the JCPOA one year after the U.S. abandoned the deal and this was confirmed by regular reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

However, Iran started to gradually remove bans on its nuclear activities after the European parties to the agreement did nothing to compensate Iran for the sanctions.

President Raisi said Iran complied with all its commitments in the nuclear agreement, but it was Washington that violated it.

Naturally, Raisi said, a country that adhered to its obligations should be “commended”, and a country that has withdrawn from the deal and not fulfilled its obligations must be “reprimanded”

The Americans must be held accountable to the world public opinion for violating the legally binding nuclear pact, the president pointed out.