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By APD writer Muhammad Sohail
Iran will announce details Saturday of its latest steps to return from its commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal in response to strict U.S. sanctions, reported Iranian media on Friday.
According to the reports, atomic energy organization spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi will hold a news conference to announce the details of Iran’s third cut to its nuclear commitments since May this year.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had said Wednesday that the new steps included abandoning all limits set by the 2015 deal to Iran’s nuclear research and development. Rouhani spoke of expansions in the field of research and development, centrifuges, different types of new centrifuges, and whatever we need for enrichment.
Iran and three European countries–Britain, France and Germany–have been engaged in talks to try to save the nuclear deal that has been unscrambling since US President Donald Trump withdrew from it in May last year and unilaterally imposed sanctions on Iran.
Iran has criticized Europe for failing to offset the effect of renewed US sanctions in return for its continued compliance with the agreement.
It had already hit back twice with countermeasures in response to the US withdrawal from the deal. On July 1, Iran said it had increased its stockpile of enriched uranium to beyond the 300-kilogram maximum set by the agreement. A week later, it announced it had exceeded a 3.67-percent cap on the purity of its uranium stocks.
Rouhani has stressed that the countermeasures Iran has adopted are all reversible if the remaining parties to the deal honor their undertakings to provide sanctions relief.
A senior US official on Wednesday ruled out any exemptions from Iran sanctions to permit a French-proposed credit line, which Tehran says could bring it back to full compliance with the nuclear deal.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)