EU Urges Iran to ‘Reverse’ 3rd JCPOA Step

TEHRAN (defapress) – The European Union on Thursday called on Tehran to reverse its third step in scaling back its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

News ID: 78603

Date: 05 September 2019 - 17:58

“These activities we consider are inconsistent with the JCPOA,” European Commission spokesman Carlos Martin Ruiz de Gordejuela claimed in a media briefing in Brussels on Thursday, AFP reported.

He added, “And in this context, we urge Iran to reverse these steps and refrain from further measures that undermine the nuclear deal.”

The remarks came after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani late on Wednesday said the country’s third step to suspend more of its nuclear commitments would be taken on Friday.

“We took the first step in reducing our commitments and gave the Group 4+1 a two-month deadline. Then we went ahead with the second phase, giving them another two-month deadline. In the four-month period, we held negotiations with the Group 4+1, including the European Union and the three European countries in particular,” Rouhani said.

The first phase started on May 8 and the second phase on July 7. Tehran has rowed back on its nuclear commitments twice in compliance with articles 26 and 36 of the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

He added that Iran did not achieve the desired result from talks with the remaining JCPOA parties, and will thus take the third step on Friday.

In the third phase, Rouhani said, “the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) will be obliged to immediately start research and development on whatever technical needs the country has, and set aside all R&D commitments stipulated in the JCPOA.”

The president said the AEOI is expected to expand its “R&D on various new centrifuges and whatever the country may need for uranium enrichment” at a fast pace.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, US, Britain, France, and Germany) on July 14, 2015, reached a conclusion over the text of the JCPOA.

The accord took effect in January 2016 and was supposed to terminate all nuclear-related sanctions against Iran all at once, but its implementation was hampered by the US policies and its eventual withdrawal from the deal.

On May 8, 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the nuclear accord.

Following the US withdrawal, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the deal.

However, the EU’s failure to ensure Iran’s economic interests forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments.

Iran maintains that all the measures are reversible, provided that the other parties fulfill their commitments.

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