In response to a European Union warning on Monday not to violate the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday that it was the Europeans who had failed to keep up their end of the deal.
“To my EU/E3 Colleagues: 1. ‘Fully upheld commitments under JCPOA’ YOU? Really? Just show ONE that you’ve upheld in the last 18 months. 2. Iran triggered-& exhausted-dispute resolution mechanism while you were procrastinating. We’re now using para36 remedies,” Zarif wrote on Twitter.
E.U. foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini issued a statement on Monday urging Iran to comply with the terms of the JCPOA or face consequences, which she said could include sanctions, Reuters reported.
Since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the JCPOA in May 2018, Iran has begun stepping away from its commitments under the accord.
In the latest such move, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said on Sunday that while the Islamic Republic’s current need was only for uranium enriched to 5 percent, it had the capacity to enrich up to 60 percent. Under the terms of the JCPOA, Iran can enrich uranium only to 3.67 percent.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that Iran would regain access to the international arms market next year if it respected the nuclear deal, Reuters reported.
“When the embargo ... is lifted next year we can easily buy and sell weapons. ... This is one of those important impacts of this [nuclear] agreement,” said Rouhani according to the report.
“By remaining in the deal, we would reach a huge political, defensive and security goal [in 2020]. ... It would be a huge political success.”
