Iran Resolved to Continue Reducing Nuclear Commitments: President
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani highlighted reasons behind the country’s moves to reduce its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, known as JCPOA, and said the reduction of obligations will continue if other parties to the deal fail to meet their obligations.
“The reduction of commitments is to make the world know that our hands are not tied up and that if they do not fulfill their obligations, there would be many solutions before us and we can defend our economy and country,” Rouhani said, addressing a meeting of the Executive Council of the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan on Thursday evening.
“Today, the world has come to the conclusion that the Iranian nation is so enormous that cannot be broken by their pressure and threat…,” he noted.
Iran is currently in talks with some countries, Rouhani said, adding that they have offered some suggestions (for the survival of the JCPOA), which have not been accepted by Iran.
“We may achieve an acceptable outcome in the coming weeks… if we do not reach any result, we will take the next step in reducing commitments,” the president went on to say.
Earlier this month, Iran declared the second step to reduce its commitments by ramping up the level of uranium enrichment to over 3.67 percent.
Iran maintains that the new measures are not designed to harm the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) but to save the accord by creating a balance in the commitments.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, US, Britain, France, and Germany) on July 14, 2015, reached a conclusion over the text of the nuclear deal.
The accord took effect in January 2016 and was supposed to terminate all nuclear-related sanctions against Iran all at once, but its implementation was hampered by the US policies and its eventual withdrawal from the deal.
On May 8, 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the nuclear accord.
Following the US withdrawal, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the deal.
However, the EU’s failure to ensure Iran’s economic interests forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments, including an unlimited rise in the stockpile of enriched uranium.
On July 1, Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium exceeded 300 kg.
