Moscow Reiterates Support for N. Deal

Russia considers a situation in which Iran's interests from the JCPOA implementation is guaranteed, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday in Moscow in a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araqchi.

Underlining the implementation of the Iranian nuclear deal, he said that a mechanism should be drawn up for cooperation to prevent the effect of US sanctions on Iran.

The Friday visit of Iranian deputy foreign minister for political affairs to Moscow is within the framework of regular consultations between the two countries.

In a related front, last week, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi warned that his country enjoys the capability to restore 20-percent uranium enrichment if the 2015 nuclear deal is discarded by parties still remaining under the agreement.

Salehi said that under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran accepted to put confidence-building curbs on its nuclear program, but they do not obstruct the “peaceful activities of Iran’s nuclear industry”.

“Enrichment is currently underway, but we would put aside the 300kg limit (set by the nuclear agreement) whenever we wish, and would do the enrichment at any volume and level,” he said in an interview with state TV on the sidelines of a visit to the Fordo nuclear facility.

“We currently have 1,044 centrifuges in Fordo, and if the establishment wants, we will restart 20-percent uranium enrichment in Fordo,” he noted.

He expressed hope that the remaining parties to the nuclear agreement would deliver on their promise and implement their commitments in order to fill the gap created by the US after its unilateral withdrawal from deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Otherwise, he said, Iran will have to reduce its JCPOA commitments.

“I would like to warn that this is not a bluff; I have kept my word whenever I’ve said something. Now I’m emphasizing once again that if the establishment wants, we can easily return to the 20-percent enrichment, and meet the country’s needs at any level and volume,” he noted.

In relevant remarks in November, Salehi said that the European Union’s failure in providing the needed ground for Tehran to enjoy the economic benefits of the nuclear deal would exhaust Iran's patience, asserting that resuming uranium enrichment to 20% purity is one of Tehran's options in that case.

"Iran could resume enriching uranium to 20 percent purity--seen as well above the level suitable for fueling civilian power plants--if it fails to see the economic benefit of the 2015 deal that curbed its nuclear program," said Salehi, in an interview with a Western news outlet before his meeting with EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels.

"If we cannot sell our oil and we don’t enjoy financial transactions, then I don’t think keeping the deal will benefit us anymore,” he highlighted, adding, "I will pass certainly a word of caution to her (Mogherini): I think the period of patience for our people is getting more limited and limited. We are running out of the assumed timeline, which was in terms of months.”

Europeans' honesty in dealing with the Iran nuclear deal is seriously doubted by Iranian masses that are discontent with talks with European counterparts.

In contrast with what European politicians and government are stating, many experts in Iran are suspicious of Europe's genuine commitment to the letters of the nuclear agreement of July 14, 2015, and are voicing their discontent with what they describe as Europe's strategy of killing time.

Even some commentators like Seyed Mostafa Khoshchashm are calling the Iranian government to start meaningful modifications in JCPOA undertakings, and specially remove the cap on the country's enriched uranium stockpile after the US unilateral withdrawal from the agreement; a call which is gaining momentum among the Iranians.

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