BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 21. Iran is following not only the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but also many other issues in the discussions regarding its nuclear program, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said, Trend reports.
“Along with the JCPOA, Iran is focusing on lifting sanctions and other issues in its nuclear talks with the opposite parties,” the president added.
According to Raisi, the most important issue for Iran is that the sanctions do not affect the country's development. For this purpose, Iran should follow such a way that sanctions do not have any negative impact on the country.
The president also noted that Iran's nuclear negotiators announced Iran’s requests in the discussions. European countries also considered Iran's requests reasonable. However, these discussions coincided with the riots that took place in the country last year, and European countries tried to put pressure on Iran from that direction.
"Iran has not left the discussions on its nuclear program and there are no obstacles to hold discussions. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed 15 times that Iran's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and there is no diversion," he said.
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.
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, more than 700 banks, companies, and individuals. The sanctions have resulted in the freezing of Iranian assets abroad.
On May 30, 2023, informed sources in Iran announced that Iran and IAEA have agreed on two issues. The issue raised by the IAEA regarding the Abadeh nuclear facility in Fars province in the south of Iran, as well as the issue about the discovery of 83.7 percent enriched uranium remains in Iran, have already been resolved.
As reported, Iran discloses various programs related to its nuclear industry to reflect that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. However, according to the information obtained by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has increased the amount of highly enriched uranium by 27 percent in the last three months, and currently, the country's enriched uranium reserves are 4,745 kilograms. This is 15 times more than the amount of uranium allowed for Iran in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Although Iran claims that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, it is requested to provide facts and guarantees to prove it at the world level.
Recently, discussions between Iran and the US have been held indirectly through various mediators, including Oman.
On June 13, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani noted that he had a discussion with his counterparts from 3 European countries about Iran's nuclear program.
In the discussions, Iran is mainly trying to achieve the abolition of sanctions imposed by the US and Western countries, the removal of its funds frozen in foreign countries, and the abolition of the restriction on the export of crude oil. In return, the US and Western countries want Iran not to acquire an atomic bomb, to keep its nuclear program under control, and to reduce the level of uranium enrichment.
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