Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 26
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
Iran intends to lift economic sanctions, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said at a press conference, Trend reports citing ISNA.
He said that Iran doesn’t accept sanctions in any way. “The lifting of the sanctions means that the US should take its responsibility,” he said.
He mentioned special activity in Iran’s foreign diplomacy last week, adding that the Islamic Republic did not surrender to the US pressure.
“The Iranian government is doing everything it can to minimize the negative consequences of the US sanctions, but other members should also fulfill their commitments within the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),” he said.
In January 2016, the JCPOA was implemented between Iran and the P5+1 group (the US, Russia, China, UK, France and Germany) in connection with Iran's nuclear program. In May 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the deal and imposed sanctions against Iran in November of the same year. In order to preserve the agreements reached as part of the JCPOA, the European signatories of the deal stated in January 2019 that a financial mechanism for maintaining trade with Iran called INSTEX was formed.
On May 8, 2019, Iran announced that it had ceased fulfilling its commitments regarding the sale of over 300 kilograms of uranium, as stated in the deal, basing its decision on the other signatories having not fulfilled their obligations. On July 7, Iran announced that it will not be fulfilling its commitments regarding the enrichment of uranium at 3.67 percent and the reconstruction of the Arak Heavy Water Reactor Facility as stated in the deal.
The 60-day deadline given by Iran to European countries involved ends on September 7 this year.