Iran will no longer comply with its 2015 nuclear deal, state television reported on Sunday, citing a statement by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani saying Iran will not meet agreed limits on uranium enrichment and the amount of enriched uranium. stored, or as regards research and development of its nuclear activities. In this way, Iran is coming out of an agreement that had been negotiated with the major world powers, including the United States, to secure peace.
The announcement comes after an Iranian official said the country was considering tougher measures in retaliation for the death of Iraqi general Qassem Soleimani in a US attack on Baghdad on Friday.
Nevertheless, Iran assures it will continue to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency and admits the possibility of re-complying with nuclear agreement standards if Iran’s interests are guaranteed and sanctions lifted.
There is still no reaction from the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, which is observing Iran’s program. Nor is it yet clear what the practical impact of this decision will be.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is an agreement signed on July 14, 2015 in Vienna by Iran and countries sitting on the UN Security Council (United States, France, United Kingdom, China and Russia), plus Germany, which aims to restrict Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons.
The nuclear deal does not allow Iran to enrich more than 3.67% uranium.
In May 2018, US President Donald Trump decided to unilaterally withdraw from the agreement and re-establish sanctions on Iran, including in the oil sector. Trump justified the departure of this pact by accusing Iran of never having given up on having an atomic weapon (while Tehran has always denied this accusation) and of being the source of all problems in the Middle East. The new US sanctions caused an escape from Iran’s foreign companies, which had returned after the deal, causing the Iranian economy to fall into a severe recession.
A year later, Iran, considering it had been very patient but the other signatories had not taken any action against the US decision, decided to break the commitment and announced that it would re-invest in uranium enrichment. In July last year, the other countries that were in the agreement expressed concern that Iran was exceeding the limits of uranium enrichment, which could mean that the country was producing atomic weapons.
However, the position announced this Sunday by the Iranian president no longer has to do with US economic sanctions. The new Iran-US crisis was sparked by the death of Iranian elite commander Al-Quds, Qassem Soleimani, on Friday in an air raid on Baghdad international airport that the Pentagon said was ordered by the President of the United States. The attack came three days after an unprecedented two-day assault on the US embassy that only ended when Trump announced the deployment of another 750 soldiers to the Middle East.
The attack sparked tensions in the region with Iran ensuring that the country and “other free nations in the region” will take revenge on the United States. Earlier Sunday, Iraq voted to expel foreign troops and Hezbollhan promised to end the presence of US military personnel in the Middle East.
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