Tabnak – Despite having been in intensive talks with France and other remaining parties of the JCPOA to save the deal from a total collapse, Iran reiterates that it will take the third step in reducing its nuclear commitments. Details of the new step are expected to be announced on Thursday.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the country and Europe are unlikely to reach an agreement on ways to save a 2015 multilateral nuclear accord, and that Tehran will go ahead with its plan to announce the third step in scaling back its commitments under the accord.
“It is unlikely that we will reach a final agreement with Europe today or tomorrow; therefore, we will take the third step. We will release the details of the third step today and tomorrow and act accordingly,” Rouhani told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
The president described the third phase of Iran’s commitment reductions as “highly important in nature,” emphasizing that this would the “most significant step that we take” and would “have extraordinary effects.” This phase, Rouhani added, will accelerate the activities of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI).
Commenting on a European diplomatic process led by France aimed at saving the Iran deal, Rouhani said “a significant part of differences” between Tehran and Europe have been resolved, but “we have yet to reach a final agreement.”
Rouhani said the European parties to the 2015 Iran deal — France, Britain and Germany — will have two more months to fulfill their contractual obligation to protect Iran against the American sanctions, which returned in place after Washington abandoned the agreement, officially named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Rouhani said “we will hold talks [with Europe] while taking this third step and if we reach a deal, there will still be a way to negotiations, logic and agreement,” the president said.
In the same vein, Tehran will definitely take the third step in reducing commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal if the European parties fail to act on their commitments by Thursday, but will keep on negotiations afterwards to give them a chance to honor the agreement.
Speaking to reporters upon arrival in Bangladesh on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, “If the Europeans do not take the necessary measures to carry out their commitments (to the JCPOA) by Thursday, we will definitely take the third step. “He also noted that Iranian President will soon announce the details of the third step.
However, Zarif added, Iran’s third step would not mean an end to the negotiations. “We have made it clear in the (Supreme National) Security Council’s statement that we will keep on negotiations, and as soon as the other party begins to honor its commitments, we will also halt the activities we have begun under the Article 36 of the JCPOA.”
Tehran has scaled back its nuclear commitments twice in compliance with articles 26 and 36 of the 2015 deal, after the US scrapped the agreement in May 2018 and the European parties (the UK, France, and Germany) failed to ensure Iran’s economic interests.
