BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 20. As long as the opposite parties (the US and Western countries) return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and fulfill their obligations, Iran will also fulfill its obligations, said Mohammad Eslami, Vice President of Iran and Chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Trend reports.
He spoke to reporters after the meeting of the Cabinet of Iran in Tehran on December 20.
According to Eslami, the JCPOA counterparties should also fulfill their obligations to Iran. Because while Iran fulfilled its obligations, they did not fulfill their obligations.
Eslami added that the main goal of the JCPOA was the removal of sanctions. Opposite parties should lift sanctions against Iran and avoid scandals.
"Iran is currently taking steps within the framework of the strategic action plan adopted by the Iranian parliament. However, the opposite parties are making accusations against Iran. However, they know that these accusations do not reflect reality," he said.
Commenting on Iran's joint statement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the vice president of Iran noted that three issues were mentioned in the agreement reached between Iran and the IAEA in March.
“The first issue is that Iran's cooperation with the IAEA is within the framework of the nuclear non-proliferation convention (NPT) and controls.
The second issue is that the parties should cooperate with each other regarding the allegations made regarding the existence of enriched uranium materials in Iran's nuclear program.
The third issue is that Iran and IAEA should define a road map in the direction of advancing joint programs on the two issues mentioned above," he said.
On March 4, 2023, Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency signed a statement on collaboration on Iran's nuclear program.
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.
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.
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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