TEHRAN (Press TV) -- Iran has warned the West to keep its end of the bargain in last year’s nuclear agreement, saying any failure could prompt Tehran to radically reverse the steps it has taken under the deal.
"Should the West fail to live up to its promises, our reversion would not be one to the previous state, but to a state which would be much different from how we used to be prior to the JCPOA,” said head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi on Thursday.
The JCPOA stands for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear accord signed between Iran and the six major world powers, namely Russia, China, France, Britain, the U.S. and Germany, in July 2015.
The deal, which took effect in January, calls for an end to decades of economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.
However, months after the lifting of anti-Iran bans on paper, major foreign banks are wary of doing business with Iran, fearing they would violate restrictions on U.S. banks and face penalties.
Tehran has criticized Washington and its allies for refusing to translate their words into action and assure the banks that they would not be punished for resuming ties with Iran.
"On the surface, the U.S. says that it is acting commensurate with the JCPOA but behind the scenes, it scares banks by telling them that the slightest mistake would result in this or that consequence,” Salehi said in the televised interview.
Likewise, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani criticized obstructive U.S. measures in the implementation of JCPOA.
"If we are to witness obstruction and disruption on the part of the U.S. even in small matters such as the purchase of passenger planes, then we will take more serious decisions to restore our rights,” he said.
Shamkhani further said experience proves that trusting the U.S. in any matter, from the lifting of sanctions to regional developments, is in fact "chasing a mirage.”
Salehi also said cooperation with Europe in the area of nuclear technology is on the rise after visiting a nuclear hospital in Vienna on Thursday.
"We have reached several agreements with the Europeans, including the one on nuclear safety with Switzerland and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed,” said Salehi, adding that a bright future awaits Tehran-Europe cooperation.
The MoU was signed on Wednesday by top Iranian and Swiss nuclear safety officials at the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Vienna.
Salehi further said Tehran is engaged in serious cooperation with the Czech Republic and is collaborating with relevant EU institutions, namely the European Atomic Energy Community, Jet Company and ITER, an international nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject.
Touching on his visit to the Vienna nuclear hospital, Salehi said that there is no such medical facility in Western Asia and Iran will open a similar site in the capital, Tehran, within the next 4-5 years if funding is provided.