DUBAI: Iran rejected on Tuesday a White House accusation that Tehran was long violating the terms of its nuclear deal with world powers, after the Islamic Republic said it had amassed more low-enriched uranium than permitted under the accord.
“Seriously?” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a message on social network Twitter, after a statement by White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham that said, “There is little doubt that even before the deal’s existence, Iran was violating its terms.”
Also on Tuesday, France urged Iran to reverse its first major breach of a nuclear pact with world powers as European states signalled they would not seek to reimpose UN sanctions - for now. Tehran’s announcement drew a warning from President Donald Trump that Tehran was “playing with fire.”
The move marked Iran’s first major step beyond the terms of the pact since the United States pulled out of it more than a year ago. However, Zarif said the move was not a violation of the accord, arguing that Tehran was exercising its right to respond to the US walkout.
CONSEQUENCES
The step, however, could have far-reaching consequences for diplomacy at a time when European countries are trying to pull the United States and Iran back from confrontation. It comes less than two weeks after Trump said he ordered air strikes on Iran, only to cancel them minutes before impact.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported that the country’s enriched uranium stockpile has now passed the 300-kg (661 lb) limit allowed under the deal.
Trump, asked if he had a message for Iran, said, “No message to Iran. They know what they’re doing. They know what they’re playing with, and I think they’re playing with fire. So, no message to Iran whatsoever.”
The White House charge that Iran probably was in violation of the nuclear deal before and after it was reached in 2015 sharply contrasts with CIA Director Gina Haspel’s testimony in January to the Senate Intelligence Committee saying, “At the moment, technically, they are in compliance.”
Daryl Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Association, said the White House charge was “illogical”.
He pointed out that at the time the nuclear deal was concluded, Tehran and the IAEA agreed on a “roadmap” through which Iran is addressing the nuclear watchdog’s unanswered questions about the nuclear weapons research programme that the IAEA and the US intelligence community assessed ended in 2003.
“The process is still underway,” he said.
DIPLOMACY
He also said there was no international standard prohibiting Iran from enriching uranium, as asserted by Pompeo. “That is not the case. That is an American position,” he said.
The six UN Security Council resolutions that Pompeo asserted established that standard were superseded by Resolution 2231 enshrining the nuclear deal and allowing Iran to enrich uranium within the agreement’s restrictions.
— Reuters
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