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Iran
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks to his cabinet in Tehran, Iran, on July 3, 2019. Photo: IRIB
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iran could reverse the decision to scale back on its commitments under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions (JCPOA) “in one hour,” President Hassan Rouhani told his cabinet on Wednesday morning as he threatened to increase the level of the enrichment of uranium in the coming days.
“The fact that our enriched uranium has surpassed 300 kilograms and will continue [to rise], is to protect JCPOA, Why is to save JCPOA? Because we say whenever you return to fulfilling your commitments, we will return to under 300 kilograms,” Rouhani said in video of his speech published by government-run IRIB News.
Helga Schmid, the chair of the Joint Commission of JCPOA responsible for “overseeing the implementation of the agreement” announced at the end of the Commission’s meeting in Vienna on Friday that the INSTEX has become operational,” but Iran has doubts about the mechanism.
Washington has been at loggerheads with Tehran since Trump came to power in January 2017 and the rivalry intensified after he withdrew from the nuclear deal in May 2018 re-imposing crippling sanctions on Iran in November.
“The fact that our enriched uranium has surpassed 300 kilograms and will continue [to rise], is to protect JCPOA, Why is to save JCPOA? Because we say whenever you return to fulfilling your commitments, we will return to under 300 kilograms,” Rouhani said in video of his speech published by government-run IRIB News.
“It is not that difficult, even if we have 10,000 kilograms, and intend to return to under 300 kilograms, it just takes one agreement. We sell it to Russia and receive yellow cake — as we have done in the past," he added.
Rouhani, who lambasted European countries for not fulfilling their side of the deal, threatened in the coming days the level of uranium enrichment could increase beyond 3.67 percent — the level currently agreed upon as part of the JCPOA.
“From July 7, we will put aside our commitment in relation to the level of enrichment and we will increase to any level that we wish depending on the needs and our requirements,” Rouhani warned.
The Arak Reactor is permitted under the guidelines of the nuclear deal to be used for non-weaponized nuclear research and is to be monitored by co-signers, in particular the United Kingdom and China.
“From July 7, we will return the Arak Reactor to the previous level, to the level that you claimed ‘Was dangerous and could produce plutonium,’ unless you fulfill all your commitments in relation to Arak Reactor,” Rouhani added.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif announced on Monday that Tehran has surpassed the 300-kilogram limit imposed by the 2015 nuclear deal, causing consternation among France, Germany and Britain who have tried to assist Iran through a specially designed financial mechanism known as INSTEX which would allow European companies to trade with Iran despite crippling US sanctions.
Zarif told reporters after the cabinet meeting on Wednesday that after President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal, Tehran had meeting with the three main European countries who pledged 11 action points including facilitating sale of oil, repatriation of oil money to Tehran, investment in Iran and other issues.
“If INSTEX becomes operational, it would be the beginning for the implementation of other 11 commitments,” he said.
Helga Schmid, the chair of the Joint Commission of JCPOA responsible for “overseeing the implementation of the agreement” announced at the end of the Commission’s meeting in Vienna on Friday that the INSTEX has become operational,” but Iran has doubts about the mechanism.
Washington has been at loggerheads with Tehran since Trump came to power in January 2017 and the rivalry intensified after he withdrew from the nuclear deal in May 2018 re-imposing crippling sanctions on Iran in November.
Iran announced this week that it has surpassed the 300-kilogram threshold of 3.67-percent enriched uranium stockpiles, thus breaching the nuclear deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The move comes 13 months after Trump announced the United States would be leaving the "worst deal ever." Rounds of US sanctions have targeted the Iranian economy, trade, petroleum, and perceived malign activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The JCPOA was signed between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany – in July 2015 and the implementation of the agreement started in January 2016.
“We have said in terms of the heavy water that we have no commitment to 130 kilograms, it could increase at any time to, for instance 150 kilograms, we could reverse this decision quickly, we sell some of the water and the amount will return to under 130 kilograms,” Rouhani told his cabinet.
“Every action we take could be reversed within one hour," he added.
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