Iran's Zarif stirs fresh controversy over JCPOA text

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN (AA) - Iran's former top diplomat Javad Zarif, who sparked a political frenzy with a leaked audio in April, is again at the center of the storm.

Zarif, who served as the country’s foreign minister between 2013 and 2021, made a stunning disclosure in an online discussion Wednesday night, contradicting his previous statements.

In response to a question on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Zarif said in the final draft of the nuclear deal signed between Iran and the world powers in July 2015, a significant addition was made at the last minute.

He said the word "suspension" was added in four places in the annexes by Iran's negotiating team without informing him.

Interestingly, Zarif had earlier told parliament that the word "suspension" was not mentioned in the JCPOA text when he was accused by lawmakers of "not reading the agreement."

"I had said in parliament that there is no mention of the word ‘suspension’ in the JCPOA, and that was my fault," he said in the meeting held using the Clubhouse social media app which was attended by many members of the former reformist government.

"The word ‘suspension’ had been mentioned four times [in the text], but our negotiators did not inform me," he admitted.

-Suspend or lift sanctions?

The historic deal was finalized on July 20, 2015, with Zarif spearheading the Iranian team. It called for a range of measures to be taken by Tehran to limit its nuclear program in exchange for a rollback of sanctions imposed by the US, European Union and the UN.

While the Hassan Rouhani government hailed it as its major foreign policy accomplishment, the Zarif-led team that negotiated the deal came under fire at home for what conservatives called an unfair deal.

Some reports at the time suggested that the agreement called for a "suspension" of sanctions rather than "lifting" them in response to Iran's measures to scale back its nuclear enrichment activities.

After the deal was signed, Zarif was invited to brief parliament on the issue, where he vehemently rejected the reports.

Backtracking on his previous statements, Zarif said Wednesday that the Iranian team that drafted the text of the agreement had been instructed "not to use some phrases," passing the buck to his team.

On allegations leveled by some conservative lawmakers that he had not read the agreement, Zarif called it "unfair" and a "great injustice to the country.”

-Mounting legal troubles

The former top diplomat, who has been warned of potential legal action over an audio leak in April in which he made controversial references to the slain Iranian military commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani, has now landed in fresh trouble.

Social media has been abuzz with people slamming Zarif and demanding legal action against him.

Abdolreza Davari, who served as media adviser to former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said Zarif's confession that he was unaware of the word "suspension" in the JCPOA text is a "clear example of dereliction of administrative duties” while calling for him to be "investigated and prosecuted.”

Rasoul Shokri Nia, a political activist, noted that Zarif’s "painful confession" that he did not pay attention to the word "suspension" in the JCPOA and his attempt to put the responsibility on the negotiating team is "something that people have been saying for the past six years."

Amir Hossein Sabeti, a journalist and TV show host, said the former minister was "proud that he knew English and negotiated with the original language,” but he has now admitted that "he did not read the Persian text" of the agreement before signing it.