Iran Must Be Persuaded To Stick To JCPOA – Germany

By G9ija

Germany, one of the five remaining signatories to the Iran nuclear deal, says Tehran must be persuaded to stick to its commitments, after the Islamic Republic announced it would boost its uranium enrichment above a cap set by the 2015 landmark accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The ball is clearly in Iran’s court. We want to preserve the deal. For this, parties must stick to it,” a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry told a regular government news conference in Berlin on Monday.

Asked at which point a red line would be crossed for the German government, the spokesman said, Our objective is that Iran abides by the deal,” adding that Tehran needs to reverse all steps that contradict the nuclear agreement.

The spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) announced earlier in the day that Tehran had passed the 3.67% uranium enrichment limit set by the JCPOA and may enrich at even higher levels.

Behrouz Kamalvandi said the European signatories to the nuclear deal should act quickly to fulfill their promises because Iran will continue reducing its commitments to the agreement until it achieves a result.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the JCPOA, reached in July 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany — and decided to re-impose unilateral sanctions against Tehran.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions.

On the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran announced that it would suspend the implementation of some of its commitments under the deal, announcing that it would stop exporting excess uranium and heavy water, setting a 60-day deadline for the five remaining parties to the deal to take practical measures towards ensuring its interests in the face of the American sanctions.

Following Washington’s exit from the deal, the Europeans pledged to keep the historic agreement alive but Iran has criticized them for failing to fulfill their obligations under the accord.