EC Secretary:

Further Delay in Step 4 of JCPOA Commitments Reduction Pure Loss

TEHRAN (defapress)- Secretary of Iran's Expediency Council (EC) Mohsen Rezayee called on the country’s government to start implementing the fourth step in reducing commitments to the joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) before suffering more damages to the Islamic Republic’s economy.

News ID: 79027

Date: 18 October 2019 - 22:31

"Any delay occurring in scaling down Iran's JCPOA commitments, waiting for incapable Europeans to take measures, is a pure loss," Rezayee, also former commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) wrote on his Twitter account.

In relevant remarks earlier this week, Iranian FM Mohammad Javad Zarif said that unfortunately Europe took no effective step to fulfill its JCPOA commitments which proves their inability.

"Iran’s strategic patience ended and the country reduced its commitments in three steps legally and in accordance with sections 26 and 36 of the JCPOA," the Iranian foreign minister added.

In relevant remarks on Thursday, Iranian President’s Chief of Staff Mahmoud Vaezi announced that a special committee is studying to implement the 4th step in Iran’s reduction of its commitment’s pertaining to the JCPOA.

"A committee is examining the other side's actions after the third step in reducing its nuclear commitments was implemented, and if Iran's demands will not be met in due time, the 4th step of reducing JCPOA commitments will be enforced," Vaezi told reporters in Semnan province.

The senior Iranian official reiterated that the European states are expected to fulfill their obligations.

Vaezi said that the reports by the Assessment Committee regarding the fulfillment of the obligations of the other countries will be completed and submitted to President Hassan Rouhani one week before the expiry of the two-month period.

In relevant remarks earlier in October, Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi announced that only two other steps had remained for his country to end the nuclear deal undertakings if the Europeans still continue insistence on not meeting Tehran's demands.

"Only two more steps will end all of Iran’s JCPOA undertakings and will return the country to the pre-JCPOA conditions," Kamalvandi said in an interview with the state TV.

"As soon as the Fordow nuclear site comes into operation for uranium enrichment and the number of centrifuge machines rises, Iran will practically have no more commitments to the JCPOA and only the monitoring issues will remain," he noted.

Kamalvandi added that Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium and the number of centrifuge machines are growing and the Europeans and the US are concerned about reduction of the Islamic Republic's JCPOA commitments.

"Thanks to the pressure of world major powers, we are able to easily manufacture the best centrifuges," he said, adding that Iran would have faced many problems, including in the pharmaceutical industry, without progress in the nuclear industry over the past decades.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi also said earlier this month that his country had devised plans and was getting ready for undertaking its next step of scaling down commitments under the nuclear deal of 2015, officially known as the JCPOA.

"Iran has prepared the required plans for the fourth step of scaling back its JCPOA commitments," Mousavi said, adding that the 4th step is most likely to be undertaken as the European signatories of the agreement are unable to deliver on their promises without a prior permission issued by the US President Donald Trump.

"Europeans have not been successful to meet their JCPOA commitments and have tied all of their decisions and measure to Trump’s confirmation," he said, adding, "Iran has its own plan and its own predictions and if the Europeans remain impotent, Iran will take the fourth step."

Tehran has rowed back on its nuclear commitments three times in compliance with articles 26 and 36 of the 2015 deal.

Iran says its reciprocal measures will be reversible as soon as Europe finds practical ways to shield the Iranian economy from unilateral US sanctions which were imposed last year when President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal.

Iranian Government Spokesman Ali Rabiyee said last month that his country was determined to take the fourth step to modify its nuclear deal undertakings unless the Europeans do their obligations under the JCPOA.

"If the (Europeans') undertakings are fully implemented, we will come close to what we had in the nuclear deal too. Our final goal is full implementation of the nuclear deal; we did not modify our undertakings to withdraw from the nuclear deal but they are aimed at bringing the other side back to compliance with their nuclear deal undertakings," Rabiyee told reporters in a press conference in Tehran.

"Our move towards to the third step depends on the other side's compliance with its undertakings and Tehran's satisfaction with the Europeans' fulfillment of their obligations," he added.

Rabiyee warned that Iran will take a "strong" step if Europe fails to use the remaining opportunity to implement its JCPOA undertakings.

Washington withdrew from the internationally-endorsed 2015 nuclear deal with Iran on May 2018, re-imposed the toughest-ever sanctions against the country and started a plan to zero down Tehran's oil sales.

Under the nuclear agreement reached between Iran and six world powers in July 2015, Tehran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions.

The Iranian officials had earlier warned that the European Union’s failure in providing the needed ground for Tehran to enjoy the economic benefits of the nuclear deal would exhaust the country's patience.

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