Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the Islamic Republic will comply with the terms of the 2015 nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as long as European signatories to the deal honor their commitments.
Zarif, in a post published on his official Twitter page late on Tuesday, wrote that Tehran is committed to the full implementation of the landmark nuclear agreement, reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany – in July 2015 as long as its European parties meet their economic duties.
He further noted that Iran will simply mirror the level of commitment shown by the European side.
Earlier in the day, the diplomatic chiefs of the European Union, France, Germany and Britain said they were “extremely concerned,” and urged Iran to reverse its decision to pass its stockpile of enriched uranium above 300 kilograms limit.
“We urge Iran to reverse this step and to refrain from further measures that undermine the nuclear deal,” said the joint statement signed by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
“We have been consistent and clear that our commitment to the nuclear deal depends on full compliance by Iran,” the joint statement noted.
It added that the group was “urgently considering next steps under the terms” of the 2015 nuclear deal.
Zarif said on Monday that the country had increased the stockpile of its low-enriched uranium production to over 300 kilograms as had been already announced by the country in line with paragraphs 26 and 36 of the JCPOA.
He made the remarks on Monday while answering a question by Iran’s ISNA news agency on the sidelines of a ceremony in the central Iranian city of Natanz.
“According to my information, Iran has surpassed the 300kg limit [in producing low-enriched uranium] and we had already announced [that we were planning to do] this,” Iran’s top diplomat said.
He added, “According to what has been announced, we have said very clearly what we are doing and consider this as part of our rights as per the JCPOA.”
Iran’s foreign minister added that the country had already announced that if steps taken by Europeans to compensate any possible losses to Iran following unilateral withdrawal of the US from the JCPOA were not adequate, it would take steps to reduce its commitments in return.
“We already announced that measures taken by Europeans have not been sufficient, and as the Islamic Republic had announced, we will implement the second stage of reducing our commitments. The first stage is going on both with regard to [the enriched] uranium stocks and heavy water stocks, and the next stage has been announced and will be implemented,” Tasnim news agency quoted Zarif as saying.
Meanwhile, the IRIB news agency also quoted Zarif as saying that the second stage is about the enrichment level, which currently stands at 3.67 percent.
Source: Iranian Agencies
