BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 13. Iran will maintain the current course of action on the nuclear program until the other parties (European countries in the JCPOA) meet their obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Vice President of Iran and Chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami told reporters after today’s meeting of Cabinet of Iran in Tehran, Trend reports.
Eslami said that the European parties of the JCPOA (the UK, France and Germany) expect Iran to comply with all the obligations under the JCPOA regarding its nuclear program, but they have not fulfilled any of them themselves.
Regarding the current course of action, the vice president said that Iran is not complying with its obligations as the counterparties have not met their obligations under the strategic plan of action and the sanctions on Iran have not been lifted.
AEOI Chief also stated that Iran had 4 issues with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on safeguards. Now, these issues have been reduced to two. The IAEA has received sufficient and necessary information.
The Iranian official did not specify what the issues were.
In late 2020, the Iranian parliament 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. According to the decision of the Iranian parliament, as of February 23, Iran suspended the implementation of additional steps and an additional protocol provided for in the nuclear deal. As a result, the control mechanism of the IAEA decreased by 20–30 percent.
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).
On January 2016, Iran's nuclear program triggered the creation of JCPOA between Iran and the P5+1 group (the US, Russia, China, the 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.
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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