BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 14. Iran has never strayed from the direction of discussion and diplomacy to resolve the dispute on its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said at a press briefing in Tehran on August 14, Trend reports.
According to Amir Abdollahian, Iranian current government (which has been in power since August 2021) has tried to diplomatically lift the sanctions imposed unilaterally by the US against Iran.
“While there is progress on the return of the parties (US, France, England, China, Russia, Germany and Iran) to the Comprehensive Joint Action Plan regarding Iran's nuclear program, which came into force in 2016 and was abandoned by the US in 2018, trade with the countries the use of national currencies should be considered. Because even if the JCPOA is fully active, trade is planned to be carried out in US dollars. The Iranian side is not satisfied to trade only with US dollars,” the minister said.
On January 2016, Iran's nuclear program triggered the creation of 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 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 September 5 of the same year, Iran announced its commitment to enrich uranium, using next-generation centrifuges and not to mix it with the enriched uranium residues as part of the third step of reducing commitments in JCPOA.
On November 5, 2019, Iran announced to have taking 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.
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