A year after Trump pulled US out of 2015 agreement, Tehran takes ‘reciprocal measures’
Caravan News
TEHRAN — Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, in an address to the nation on Wednesday, has announced country’s partial withdrawal from the nuclear deal signed with world powers in 2015.
The move comes after the US unilaterally withdrew from the pact last year.
In a televised speech, Rouhani said that Tehran would reduce its “commitments” to the deal, but would not fully withdraw and that signatories of the deal — France, the UK, Germany, Russia and China — had been informed in advance of the move.
Rouhani has been under intense domestic political pressure to produce some kind of counter-measure following the US withdrawal.
The measures announced by President Rouhani were formally conveyed to ambassadors to countries remaining inside the deal – France, Britain, Germany, China and Russia.
According to the President, Iran would keep enriched uranium stocks in the country and not sell them abroad. He also threatened to resume production of higher enriched uranium in 60 days.
Rouhani accused “hardliners” in the US of working to undermine the agreement, saying it was “in the interests of the region and the world, but not the enemies of Iran, therefore they spared no effort since 2015 to undermine (the deal)”, CNN reported.
The accord is aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions in return for sanctions relief, but Tehran-Washington tensions have risen since the US withdrew from the deal. US President Donald Trump later reimposed sanctions on Tehran, hitting its economy.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran declares that at the current stage, it does not anymore see itself committed to respecting the limitations on keeping enriched uranium and heavy water reserves,” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said in a statement.
The SNSC said other partners would have 60 days to lift pressure from Iran caused by the US sanctions, otherwise the country “will cease implementation of restrictions on uranium enrichment levels”.
The announcement comes after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an unscheduled visit to Iraq, and a US aircraft carrier was deployed to the Gulf region.
Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has always maintained that its nuclear research is purely civilian in nature.
