Iran Likely to Drop Additional Protocol if JCPOA Abrogated: Nuclear Chief
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the country will probably stop implementing the Additional Protocol if the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) is annulled.
IRNA quoted Ali Akbar Salehi as saying in an interview that termination of the JCPOA will probably make Iran stop carrying out the Additional Protocol.
“However, I am not the one to decide in this regard. This will be a decision to be made by the delegation overseeing the JCPOA and the (Iranian) Establishment’s senior authorities,” he added.
Highlighting Iran’s proportional decisions in every situation, Salehi pointed to the construction of a highly-advanced hall for manufacturing modern centrifuges, on Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei’s orders.
“The hall has now been well equipped and rendered operational,” Salehi said.
“Another example was the decree issued concerning (production) of nuclear propulsion devices,” he added.
Back in June, Salehi had announced that the country has developed the necessary infrastructure at the Natanz nuclear facility for enrichment of uranium up to a level of one million SWU (Separative Work Unit).
In an interview from the new facility used for assembling centrifuge machines, Salehi had announced that the Natanz nuclear complex in central Iran has been configured to accommodate 48,000 centrifuge machines, meaning it has the potential for uranium enrichment up to a level of one million SWU.
On May 8, the US president pulled his country out of the JCPOA, which was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Following the US exit, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.
Meanwhile, Ayatollah Khamenei has underlined that any decision to keep the JCPOA running without the US should be conditional on “practical guarantees” from the Europeans.