Tabnak – Disappointment over Europe’s lack of willingness or power to provide Iran with the real benefits of the nuclear deal has made the Islamic Republic serious in revising its own nuclear commitments. High-ranking Iranian officials reveal the details of the country’s next moves in this direction.
President Hassan Rouhani says Iran’s Arak heavy water nuclear reactor — which was agreed to be redesigned under the 2015 nuclear agreement — will resume its previous activities after July 7 if the other signatories to the deal fail to uphold their end of the bargain.
“As of July 7, the Arak reactor would be restored to its former condition, which they (other parties) used to claim was ‘dangerous’ and could produce plutonium” if the other deal partners fail to fully act on their commitments under the accord, Rouhani said at a Wednesday cabinet meeting.
Rouhani said Iran’s decision concerning the reactor could only be reversed “if they (the other signatories) act on all of their commitments concerning the facility.” He further said Iran would, in addition, surpass the limit placed by the nuclear agreement on the level of purity of the uranium it produces when the July 7 deadline set by Tehran for the remaining deal partners expires.
“The level of uranium enrichment will no longer stay at 3.67 percent,” he said. “This commitment [taken under the nuclear deal] will be set aside, and we will enhance [the enrichment level] to whatever amount, which we deem necessary and need.”
A day earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Islamic Republic will comply with the terms of the nuclear agreement, as long as European signatories to the deal honor their commitments.
Zarif, in a post published on his official Twitter page late on Tuesday, wrote that Tehran is committed to the full implementation of the landmark nuclear agreement, reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany – in July 2015 as long as its European parties meet their economic duties.
He further noted that Iran will simply mirror the level of commitment shown by the European side.
This is while the diplomatic chiefs of the European Union, France, Germany and Britain had said earlier on Tuesday that they were “extremely concerned,” and urged Iran to reverse its decision to pass its stockpile of enriched uranium above 300 kilograms limit.
“We urge Iran to reverse this step and to refrain from further measures that undermine the nuclear deal,” said the joint statement signed by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
On May 8, Iran notified its remaining partners in the deal that it would suspend the implementation of some of its commitments as a means of prompting the European side to honor its end of the bargain.
The warning shot saw the country stopping exports of its excess uranium and heavy water for a two-month-long period.
The measure was likewise taken in line with the Islamic Republic’s legal rights under paragraphs 26 and 36 of the nuclear deal, which is officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
