Iran says it has breached further commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal by enriching uranium to a purity level beyond what has been internationally agreed.
Exceeding this limit not only marks a violation in the treaty, but it also enforces Iran's adamant reaction to the US reintroducing crippling sanctions after backing out of the deal last year.
A former official at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) lauded the government for exceeding the 300kg limit stated in the nuclear deal for the production of low-enriched uranium, saying that the country's needs are way more than such a volume.
"There is no doubt that we need more than 300kg of 3.5%-enriched uranium and it is a key and serious need of the agricultural, medical, energy and other fields," Hossein Abniki, the former director of the Development Center of the AEOI, told FNA on Saturday.
He added that the Iranian government underwent some undertakings in the 2015 nuclear deal about the amount of its low-enriched uranium stockpile, while Iran's need to LEU for medical and agricultural uses is way more than the stated limits.
"We do not forget that the western side imposed a seious radio medicine sanctions against Iran in 2009 and they did not even provide us with 20% enriched uranium and the lives of our patients were endangered," Abniki said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said last 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.
“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.
“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,” he added.
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,” a news outlet quoted Zarif as saying.
Meanwhile, other sources also quoted Zarif as saying that the second stage is about the enrichment level, which currently stands at 3.67 percent.
Last Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi called on the European states to adopt more practical measures in compliance with their undertakings under the nuclear deal, saying that the EU-proposed INSTEX fails to meet Tehran's demands.
"As you see and reports said, this was not the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian nation's demand and has not met our demand, but consultations continue and our message has been transferred to the European sides," Mousavi told reporters in Tehran.
"We have declared to the Europeans that if they take more practical, tangible and complete measures, Iran's measures in line with modifying its undertakings could be reversed, otherwise, we will continue (modification measures)," he added, saying that consultations with the Europeans on the INSTEX (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges) continue.
Germany, France and the UK, the three European signatories to the Iran nuclear deal of 2015, created a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for trade with Iran called the INSTEX late in January. The channel hasn’t had any financial transaction with Iran yet.
On May 8, exactly one year after President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran announced it will scale down parts of its commitments within the pact, giving Europe 60 days to either normalize economic ties with Iran or accept the modification of Tehran’s obligations under the agreement.
Iran set up and registered a counterpart to INSTEX called Special Trade and Financing Instrument between Iran and Europe (STFI) to pave the way for bilateral trade.
Then last week, Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Helga Schmid announced that INSTEX has become operational.
"INSTEX now operational, first transactions being processed and more EU Members States to join. Good progress on Arak and Fordow projects," Schmid wrote on her twitter account last week after a meeting of the Joint Commission on JCPOA ended in Vienna following three and a half hours of talks by the remaining signatories to the deal (the EU3 and Russia and China).
It was the 12th meeting of the Joint Commission on JCPOA which began at 12:00 local time in Vienna.
Meantime, seven European countries--Austria, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden--in a joint statement expressed their support for the efforts for implementation of the INSTEX.
Later, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi described the nuclear deal joint commission meeting with the Europeans as "a step forward", but meantime, reminded that it did not meet Iran's expectations.
“It was a step forward, but it is still not enough and not meeting Iran’s expectations,” said Araqchi, who headed the Iranian delegation at the JCPOA joint commission meeting in Vienna on Friday afternoon.
“I will report back to Tehran and the final decision will be by Tehran to take,” he added.
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