TEHRAN, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Iran announced a further rollback of its
commitments to the troubled international nuclear accord Sunday amid anger over the US killing of a top commander which also prompted Iraq’s parliament to demand the departure of American troops.
While vast crowds gathered in Iran’s second city of Mashhad as Qasem
Soleimani’s remains were returned home, the Tehran government said it would forego the “limit on the number of centrifuges” it had pledged to honour in the 2015 agreement which was already in deep trouble.
The announcement was yet another sign of the fallout from Friday’s killing
of Soleimani in Baghdad in a drone strike ordered by President Donald Trump, which has inflamed US-Iraqi relations and among the rival camps in Washington.
Iran’s 2015 nuclear accord with the United Nations Security Council’s five
permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany has been hanging by a thread since the US withdrew unilaterally from it two years ago.
European countries have been pushing for talks with Iran to salvage the
deal, inviting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif to Brussels for talks, but the prospect of progress seemed remote after the government’s statement on Sunday night.
“Iran’s nuclear programme no longer faces any limitation in the
operational field”, said the statement.
This extends to Iran’s capacity for enriching uranium, the level of
enrichment carried out, the amount enriched, and other research and
development, it said.
“As of now Iran’s nuclear programme will continue solely based on its
technical needs,” it added.
Until now, Iran has said it needs to enrich uranium up to a level of five
percent to produce fuel for electricity generation in nuclear power plants.
Tehran said it would continue cooperating “as before” with the
International Atomic Energy Agency but the leaders of Germany, France and Britain reacted by urging Iran to rethink its announcement.
“We call on Iran to withdraw all measures that are not in line with the
nuclear agreement,” Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a joint statement.
The European leaders also urged Iran to refrain from taking “further
violent actions or support for them.”
“It is crucial now to de-escalate. We call on all the players involved to
show utmost restraint and responsibility.”
The Europeans have been among the chorus of voices urging restraint in the aftermath of the drone strike which killed Soleimani, the veteran commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations.
In BRUSSELS, the EU’s diplomatic chief Josep Borrell voiced regret at Tehran’s latest decision to reduce its commitments to the beleaguered 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
“Deeply regret Iran’s latest announcement on #JCPOA. As ever we will
rely on @iaeaorg verification,” Borrell tweeted, using an abbreviation for
the deal’s formal name.
“Full implementation of #NuclearDeal by all is now more important than
ever, for regional stability & global security. I will continue working with
all participants on way forward.” — NNN-AGENCIES
