BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 8
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Iran will be able to fulfill its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), if the sanctions against Iran are actually lifted, Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said, Trend reports citing the Office of Khamenei.
He made the remark during a reception for the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force.
According to Khamenei, the US and three European countries, which are the sides of the nuclear deal with Iran, have not fulfilled their obligations related to the deal.
Khamenei added that Iran has the right to set conditions for implementation of operation on the nuclear deal, because after the agreement came into force, Iran fulfilled all of its obligations.
The Iranian parliament has recently decided to implement a strategic plan to tackle the sanctions, citing the non-implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed between Iran and six countries and the imposition of sanctions on Iran.
As of January 4, Iran has started to enrich uranium to 20 percent. Iran currently produces 17-20 grams of 20-percent uranium per hour.
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 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 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 that have 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.
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 Sept.5.
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.
On Jan.2020, Iran took the last fifth step in reducing the number of its commitments within JCPOA.
The US imposed new sanctions on Iran in November 2018. Over the past period, the sanctions affected Iranian oil exports, more than 700 banks, companies, and individuals.