(UTV|COLOMBO) – Iran ignored US and EU warnings on Wednesday and vowed to exceed within days the maximum uranium enrichment level it agreed to in the landmark 2015 nuclear accord.
Iran is acting on its May 8 threat to suspend parts of the agreement in response to US President Donald Trump’s reimposition of crippling sanctions after withdrawing from it in May last year.
President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday’s decision was in response to failure by other parties to the deal to keep up their promises and provide Iran relief from the US sanctions.
“On July 7, our enrichment level will no longer be 3.67 per cent. We will put aside this commitment. We will increase (the enrichment level) beyond 3.67 per cent to as much as we want, as much as is necessary, as much as we need,” Rouhani told a cabinet meeting.
The enrichment maximum set in the agreement is sufficient for power generation but far below the more than 90 per cent level required for a nuclear warhead.
France reacted quickly by warning Iran that it would “gain nothing” by leaving the deal and said “challenging the agreement would only increase tensions already high” in the Middle East.
Iran insists that it is not violating the deal, citing terms of the agreement allowing one side to temporarily abandon some of commitments if it deems the other side is not respecting its part of the accord.
Rouhani stressed that Iran’s action would be reversed if the other parties to the nuclear deal made good on their side of the bargain – relief from sanctions.
“We will remain committed to the (nuclear deal) as long as the other parties are committed,” he said. “We will act on the JCPOA 100 per cent the day that the other party acts 100 per cent (too),” he added using the deal’s acronym.
Iran has sought to pressure the other parties – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – to save the deal.
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