BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 22
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
The statement of Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the country's possible withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was mentioned in the letter of the country's President Hassan Rouhani to the 4+1 group dated May 2019, Spokesperson of the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry Abbas Mousavi said, Trend reports with reference to the ministry's website.
The letter of the Iranian president noted that Iran will leave the NPT in case if the nuclear program of the country is referred to the UN Security Council and thepre-Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) sanctions are imposed, Mousavi said.
Iran will leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if Europeans insist on their unjustifiable behavior or refer the nuclear issue to the UN Security Council, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Jan. 20.
On Jan. 14, 2020, the UK, France and Germany issued a statement regarding Iran's suspension of its obligations within JCPOA and announced that they launched a process to resolve nuclear disputes. If problems are not solved in this process, the matter will be discussed at the UN Security Council’s meeting.
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.
Iran took the last fifth step in reducing the number of its commitments within JCPOA. Iran no longer faces any restrictions on its nuclear program.