Iran’s New Nuclear Step Meant to Save JCPOA: Envoy

“We’re doing this (4th nuclear step) because we want to salvage the nuclear deal from total collapse,” Baeidinejad told Sky News in an interview on Tuesday.

He added, “Because, in fact, the other sides have not been able to live up to their obligations, and Iran is resorting to certain actions to ensure” that the deal will stand.

“So, we’re reducing some of our commitments to give warnings that this situation cannot be continued and urge them (the other parties) to completely agree to implement their share of the commitments,” he noted.

The Iranian envoy said it depends on the other parties whether Iran would restore its nuclear energy activities to the level that existed before the deal or resort to stronger retaliatory measures.

In a speech on Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the fourth step to scale back the country’s obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) would begin tomorrow.

“The 4th step, like the three previous steps, is reversible and whenever they (the other parties) fulfill their obligations, we will go back (to our commitments),” the president added.

The fourth step will be taken tomorrow (Wednesday) at the Fordow nuclear site, Rouhani said, adding that Iran has 1044 centrifuges at Fordow, which were supposed to rotate without gas according to the JCPOA but gas will be injected into them tomorrow.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA.

Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the JCPOA after the US withdrawal, but the three EU parties to the deal (France, Britain, and Germany) have failed to ensure Iran’s economic interests.

The EU’s inaction forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments to the nuclear deal, including a rise in the stockpile of enriched uranium.

Iran maintains that the new measures are not designed to harm the JCPOA but to save the accord by creating a balance in the commitments.