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Iran’s nuclear program remains under IAEA control, says Russian envoy

According to Russia’s Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov, Iran declared that its nuclear program would be based on its technical needs

Russia’s Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Russia’s Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

VIENNA, January 6./TASS/. The Iranian nuclear program will remain under strict international control after Tehran’s announcing a new stage of reducing commitments to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOR), Russia’s Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov said on Sunday.

According to him, Iran had declared that its nuclear program would be based on its technical needs. "This decision does not give answers to all questions so far. Time will be needed to clarify the general picture and understand a new reality," Ulyanov blogged in Twitter.

"However, Iran confirms that his cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency - TASS) will continue. This means that the nuclear program remains under strict international control, including on the basis of the additional protocol. This is of paramount importance from the point of view of nuclear non-proliferation," the envoy stressed.

On Sunday, Iran declared a final step to reduce commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal. The new step envisages that Tehran won’t abide by the JCPOA limits on the number of centrifuges for enriching uranium.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was signed by Iran with the UN Security Council permanent members (Russia, the UK, China, the US, France) and Germany in 2015. The deal restricted Tehran’s nuclear development in exchange for lifting the UN sanctions and the unilateral restrictions imposed by the US and the EU.

The future of the 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear program was called into question after the United States’ unilateral pullout on May 8, 2018, and Washington’s oil export sanctions against Iran. As the Iranian side argues, the other parties to the nuclear deal, first of all, the European signatories, do not comply with their economic commitments in full and that is why the deal in its current form has no sense. Due to this, Iran started to scale down a part of its obligations under the JCPOA related to uranium enrichment and research activity.

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