Speaker Deplores Persistence of Anti-Iran Sanctions

In a meeting with business people in the city of Qom on Thursday, Larijani took a swipe at the West for shirking duties to ease economic sanctions on Iran, although Tehran has completely fulfilled its part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Despite an increase in Iran’s oil exports after the JCPOA implementation, the crux of the problem is still existing, meaning that the sanctions have not been lifted, he underlined.

The speaker noted that only the third and fourth-rate Weste banks have been allowed to work with Iran, while the major banks are still afraid of cooperation and investment.

The Weste side had undertaken to create incentives for investment in Iran, however, not only did it fail to do so, but it has been even throwing a wrench, Larijani added, calling for Iran’s retaliatory measures.

He also touched on a litany of anti-Iran bills that the US Congress has passed to discourage the world countries from investing in Iran, stressing that such conduct runs counter to their commitments under the JCPOA.

The nuclear accord between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) took effect in January 2016 and was supposed to terminate nuclear-related sanctions against Iran all at once, but its implementation has been hampered mainly due to US policies.

Back in March, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said Americans have yet to fulfill what they were supposed to do as per the nuclear deal.

Iran still has problems in its banking transactions or in restoring its frozen assets, because Weste countries and those involved in such processes are afraid of Americans, the Leader said at the time, criticizing the US for its moves to prevent Iran from taking advantage of the sanctions removal.