Tehran: Iran will stop implementing some key provisions of its nuclear deal with major powers, President Hassan Rouhani announced on Wednesday, exactly one year after the United States said it was withdrawing from the 2015 pact.
Rouhani communicated his decision to China, Germany, France, Britain and Russia in a letter, the ISNA news agency reported.
“We can’t implement an international agreement by ourselves if the other side does not,” the president said at a cabinet meeting in Tehran.
Iran had patiently waited for one year after the US pulled out, but the remaining five powers were not able to fulfill their obligations, he said.
In a first phase of Tehran’s gradual withdrawal, the country will no longer abide by the limits regarding its enriched uranium stock and materials related to its heavy water reactor in Arak, according to Rouhani.
French Defence Minister Florence Parly said that European countries will mull renewed sanctions against Iran if the country stops abiding by its nuclear agreement with major powers.
“If these obligations are not met, this question would naturally arise,” she told radio RMC.
However, the minister stressed that France wants to keep the nuclear agreement alive.
A senior EU official said on condition of anonymity that consultations would take place in the coming days between the five powers that agreed the Iran deal alongside the US. Any EU decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran would have to be taken by all member states.
The 2015 agreement placed strict curbs on materials that can potentially be used to make nuclear warheads.
Western sanctions against Iran were lifted in return, but the US has gradually revived sanctions over the past year, including an embargo against oil exports that are essential for Iran’s economy.
The European countries that are involved in the deal have tried to set up a barter system so that foreign companies can do business with Iran while avoiding US punitive measures, but Rouhani made clear that these efforts were inadequate.
“After the US departure, the other five contract parties have tried to keep the deal alive with medicines; we believe that surgery is called for,” he said.
If the banking and oil sanctions against Iran are lifted within two months, Tehran will return to implementing the nuclear agreement, according to Rouhani.
If the restrictions stay in place, the Islamic republic would reconsider the deal’s ban on enriching uranium only to up to a purity level of 3.5 per cent.
Tehran’s announcement came after Washington stepped up its pressure on Iran in recent weeks.
Russia’s Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Iran’s withdrawal was a consequence of “rash steps” taken by the US. — dpa
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna has reported that Tehran has kept its nuclear activities within the agreed limits since the agreement came into force in early 2016. — dpa
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