Europeans in No Position to Leave JCPOA: Zarif

Date: 06 October 2019 - 21:29

News ID: ۷۱۳۸۷

TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said here Sunday that the European signatories to a nuclear deal signed between Iran and major world powers in 2015 are legally in no position to withdraw.
Addressing a parliament session, he said the three European parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) have failed to fulfill their obligations under the pact and they even violated it in some cases.
"In addition to the U.S. that blatantly violated the agreement through its withdrawal, the Europeans (Britain, France and Germany) have also put on the same attitude in some cases," the top Iranian diplomat said.
Zarif emphasized that the JCPOA was an international agreement which has been ratified by the United Nations and has a clear framework. "The U.S. has pulled out of the deal in violation of international regulations."
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said on Sunday Tehran will continue to further scale back its commitments under the JCPOA if the other signatories fail to keep their side of the bargain.
Iran will continue to reduce its commitments if the remaining parties to the deal do not realize their own commitments, AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi was cited as saying by official IRNA news agency.
He reiterated that Iran's withdrawal from parts of its commitments was a reaction to the U.S. unilateral withdrawal from the accord in May 2018.
If Tehran's interests are met, "Iran is prepared to return to its commitments," Kamalvandi said at the opening ceremony of training courses for nuclear rights here.
Repeating that Iran is ready to resume all suspended commitments once all sides start to the agreement, Kamalvandi warned, "Otherwise, Iran will continue to reduce further commitments."
Iran has been pressuring the UK, France and Germany since May 2018 to facilitate trade despite the U.S. sanctions, but Europeans have hesitated as the U.S. has kept up diplomatic pressure.
On Friday, British daily the Guardian said the European Union has privately warned Iran that it would be forced to start withdrawing from the nuclear deal in November if Tehran went ahead with its threat to take new steps away from the deal.
Responding to the EU warning, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman dismissed the threat as "already dead."
Disregarding JCPOA commitments, Iran has so far injected gas into its new generation centrifuges, ignored the limit (300 kg) set for stockpiling enriched uranium and increased the level of uranium enrichment from 3.67% to 4.5%.