All news

Iran’s steps to scale back on JCPOA commitments reversible — president

He added that "if agreements with Europe are finalised, we are ready to return to our JCPOA obligations"

TEHRAN, September 11. /TASS/. Iran’s third step scaling back on its commitments to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program are reversible, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during the telephone call he had with French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday.

"Iran's third step is under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and it is reversible," the president’s official website quotes Rouhani as saying. He added that "if agreements with Europe are finalised, we are ready to return to our JCPOA obligations."

According to the Iranian president, "the JCPOA was a great opposrtunity for Europe to invest in the Iranian economy." "The EU and France in particular should take steps to preserve the nuclear deal," he underlined.

On September 6, Tehran launched the first step of scaling back on its commitments to the nuclear deal, which meant that the country refused to observe the restrictions placed on nuclear research. The Iranian side claimed that the actions were prompted by the European parties not complying with their obligations.

The problem of the Iranian nuclear dossier exacerbated dramatically after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA on May 8, 2018 and introduced American economic sanctions in the oil export sphere against Tehran. Exactly one year later, on May 8, 2019, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that Tehran was suspending its part of the obligations on the nuclear deal and gives other parties to it six months to return to its implementation.

The JCPOA was signed between Iran, five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (Russia, the United Kingdom, China, the United States and France) and Germany in 2015. The deal limited Iran’s nuclear development in exchange for lifting the UN, US and EU sanctions. Iran pledged not to enrich uranium above the level of 3.67% for 15 years and maintain enriched uranium stockpiles at the level not exceeding 300 kg, as well as not to build new heavy-water reactors, not to accumulate heavy water and not to develop nuclear explosive devices.