BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 12. The renewal of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran's nuclear program, which is currently in limbo, and Iran's fulfillment of its obligations should not be conditioned by the lifting of sanctions against Iran, Iranian international analysts Hasan Behishtipour told local media, Trend reports.
Beheshtipour emphasized that this means that Iran has limited its nuclear program and the JCPOA, which covers many issues, to just one issue - the lifting of sanctions.
He added that if the JCPOA is addressed in all aspects, Iran can still hope to recover.
"But when the government does not even want to mention the JCPOA and is satisfied with the lifting of sanctions, there is no hope for the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," he said.
The analyst also pointed out that the JCPOA can become an example at the international level to prevent any threat related to nuclear weapons.
Iran’s nuclear program was the subject of the JCPOA, a deal signed by Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, UK, France, and Germany) on January 16, 2016. However, on May 8, 2018, the US withdrew from the JCPOA and imposed new sanctions on Iran as of November 2018.
Iran claims that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, but the IAEA has reported that Iran has increased its highly enriched uranium by 27 percent in the last three months and now has 4,745 kilograms of enriched uranium. This is 15 times more than the amount allowed for Iran in the JCPOA.
Iran has been trying to resume talks with the other parties on its nuclear issue and revive the JCPOA. The main goals of Iran are to end the sanctions imposed by the US and Western countries, access funds frozen abroad, and resume its crude oil exports.
Recently, some world media reports cited the IAEA as saying that Iran’s 60 percent enriched uranium reserves had increased from 6.7 kg to 128 kg.
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.
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