President also accuses world powers of not meeting their commitments, which he says is harming Iranian economy
TEHRAN (AP) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday accused the US Congress, Israel and other regional countries are thwarting the implementation of the landmark deal signed last year that sees sanctions on Tehran eased in return for Iran halting its nuclear program.
Speaking on state TV, Rouhani said the world powers who cosigned the agreement have not fulfilled their own commitments, which he said was harming Iranian economic growth.
“If the other party had acted properly, we would be in a better situation today,” the president said, adding that Iran still cannot access its foreign assets although it is able to export more oil and to access the international banking system.
State Department spokesman John Kirby has said that the US has assessed that Iran is meeting its obligations under the deal and “we’re meeting ours.” He said Washington would continue to abide by its commitments under the agreement, which he described as having a “stabilizing effect on the world.”
Iran has repeatedly complained that it has fulfilled its end of the deal while all the agreed-upon sanctions have not yet been lifted. Tehran is still struggling to attract large-scale foreign investment and many multinational companies remain fearful of US prosecution or fines for doing business with Iran. The US government still maintains some of its own sanctions against doing business with Iran that are outside the scope of last year’s deal.
The US-based company Boeing Co. signed a deal with Tehran involving dozens of planes and worth as much as $25 billion. But the agreement has been criticized by both republican and democratic politicians. In July the US House of Representatives passed two measures that would block the sale, but the issue has not yet reached the Senate.
As reported by The Times of Israel