BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 7
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
Iran’s last which is fifth step in reducing its commitments in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) doesn’t mean withdrawal from the agreement, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, Trend reports citing ISNA.
The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran announced the fifth step in reducing Iran's commitments to JCPOA in a statement on Jan. 5.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran no longer faces any restrictions on its nuclear program, including enrichment capacity, percentage of enrichment, amount of enriched material, and research and development,” said the statement.
Araghchi added that Iran has no limits on uranium enrichment, noting that the amount of uranium enrichment in Iran and the process itself will now depend on the program of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and the country’s needs.
“The US withdrawal from the nuclear deal destroyed the existing balance in the agreement,” Araghchi said. “Presently, the balance has been restored by Iran’s suspension of its commitments in this agreement.”
The Iranian deputy foreign minister added that the nuclear deal can be continued and this depends on the willingness of other parties.
In January 2016, JCPOA was launched between Iran and the P5+1 group (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.
On Sept. 5, Iran announced that it will enrich uranium using next-generation centrifuges and will not mix it with the enriched uranium residues as part of the third step of reducing commitments in JCPOA.
On Nov. 5, 2019, Iran announced that it took the fourth step in connection with reducing its commitments to the nuclear agreement. So, uranium gas is being pumped to the centrifuges at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.