BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 29. Western countries want to use the nuclear issue for political purposes to put pressure on an independent country like Iran, President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi said, Trend reports.
"The International Atomic Energy Agency has stated 15 times that Iran’s nuclear program is not abnormal, but Western countries want to use the nuclear issue for political purposes to put pressure on an independent country like Iran. Anyway, we didn’t leave the negotiating table to give them a reason, but they left the negotiating table, and then came back," he said.
He noted that it was Europe and the US that have not fulfilled their obligations in regard with the nuclear program.
Raisi added that Iran has not failed the negotiations and the action plan, and is also actively working on another front, which is the neutralization of sanctions.
On January 16, 2016, Iran's nuclear program triggered the creation of the JCPOA between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, UK, France, and Germany). In May 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the deal and imposed sanctions on Iran in November of the same year. To preserve the agreements reached as part of the JCPOA, the European signatories of the deal started in January 2019 and a financial mechanism for maintaining trade with Iran called INSTEX was formed.
On May 8, 2019, Iran announced ceasing to fulfill its commitments regarding the sale of over 300 kilograms of uranium, as stated in the deal, basing its decision on the other signatories that have not fulfilled their obligations.
On July 7, Iran announced that it would 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 September 5 of the same year, Iran announced its commitment to enrich uranium using next-generation centrifuges and not mix it with the enriched uranium residues as part of the third step of reducing commitments in the JCPOA.
On November 5, 2019, Iran announced that it had taken 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.
On January 5, 2020, Iran took the last fifth step in reducing the number of its commitments within the JCPOA.
On May 8, 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and the 5+1 group (Russia, China, the UK, France, the US, and Germany) and imposed new sanctions against Iran as of November 2018.
Over the past period, the sanctions affected Iranian oil exports and more than 700 banks, companies, and individuals. The sanctions have resulted in the freezing of Iranian assets abroad.