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Thursday, December 05, 2019, 13:59
Iran says 'no plan to leave nuclear deal’
By Agencies
Thursday, December 05, 2019, 13:59 By Agencies

Abbas Araghchi, political deputy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, speaks to the media after the meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) attended by the E3+2 (China, France, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom) and Iran, at the Palais Coburg in Vienna, Austria, July 28, 2019. (PHOTO / AFP)

TEHRAN/UNITED NATIONS — Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that his country has no plan to leave the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal despite reducing its commitments under the accord, Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday.

The Islamic Republic has decided to reduce its commitments because the European countries have failed to fulfill their commitments to protect Iran's economic interests under the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Araghchi said at a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in Tokyo on Tuesday.

While saying that Iran has decided to reduce its commitments as the European countries have failed to fulfill their commitments to protect Iran's economic interests under the deal, Iran's deputy foreign minister also noted: “Our goal is not to leave the JCPOA ...”

"Our goal is not to leave the JCPOA ... In case the (U.S.) sanctions are lifted and Iran enjoys the benefits of this agreement, we will return to the JCPOA commitments," Araghchi, who has also served a senior Iranian nuclear negotiator, said.

In a reaction to the US’ withdrawal from the JCPOA in May 2018 and re-imposition of sanctions against the Islamic Republic, and in a response to the Europeans' sluggishness in facilitating Iran's banking transactions and its oil exports, the Islamic republic, since seven months ago, has made staged moves to drop its commitments under the JCPOA.

ALSO READ: Iran president: Tehran hasn't closed window on talks with US

Beside the recent move to begin enrichment activities in underground Fordow nuclear facility, Iran has started to build stockpiles of nuclear fuel and enrich low-grade uranium to a higher level of purity. It also started up advanced centrifuges to boost the country's stockpile of enriched uranium and research activities, all of which had been restricted by the nuclear accord.

In Europe, France, Germany and the United Kingdom said “Iran’s developments of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles” go against a UN Security Council resolution calling on Tehran not to undertake any activity related to such missiles.

Ambassadors from the three European nations urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a letter circulated Wednesday to inform the council in his next report that Iran’s ballistic missile activity is “inconsistent” with the call in a council resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

READ MORE: UN reports increasing violations of Iran nuclear deal

The letter cites footage released on social media on April 22, 2019 of a previously unseen flight test of a new Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile variant “equipped with a maneuverable re-entry vehicle.” It reads: “The Shahab-3 booster used in the test is a Missile Technology Control Regime category-1 system and as such is technically capable of delivering a nuclear weapon.”

The Europeans noted that a 2015 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency on possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program concluded “that extensive evidence indicated detailed Iranian research in 2002-2003 on arming the Shahab-3 with a nuclear warhead.”

The Security Council has scheduled a Dec 19 meeting to discuss implementation of the 2015 resolution on the Iran nuclear deal.

In the letter, the three European nations said:  “France, Germany and the United Kingdom assert once again our firm conclusion that Iran’s development of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles and related technologies is inconsistent” with the missile provision in the council resolution.

That provision urges Iran "not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons." But it does not require Tehran to halt such activity, and the Iranian government insists all its missile activities are legal and not nuclear-related.

ALSO READ: Iran's supreme leader says Europe should not be trusted

According to the Europeans’ letter, they used the Missile Technology Control Regime “performance characteristics” that a rocket system would need to be capable of delivering at least a 500-kilogram payload to a range of at least 300 kilometers to be nuclear capable.

France, Germany and the UK gave four examples of “Iranian activity inconsistent” with the July 20, 2015 Security Council resolution endorsing the nuclear agreement, which was signed six days earlier.

In addition to the April 23 flight test of the new Shahab-3 missile variant, it cited:

—The launch of the Borkan-3, “a new liquid-propelled medium-range ballistic missile, traveling approximately 1,300 kilometers,” which was announced by Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen on Aug 2, 2019, and is an advancement of Iran’s Qiam-1 missile.

—The July 24, 2019, launch of a ballistic missile that flew over 1,000 kilometers, which media reports indicated was a test launch of a Shahab-3 medium-range missile.

—The Aug 29, 2019, attempted launch, reported by Iranian media, of a Safir satellite launch vehicle, which was unsuccessful. UN experts have said such launch vehicles share “a great deal of similar materials and technology” with ballistic missiles.

The European nations said in the letter that these activities “are the latest in a long series of advances in Iranian ballistic missile technology” and “furthermore, Iran continues its proliferation of ballistic missile technology in the region” in violation of Security Council resolution.

Officials in the Trump administration also have said Iran is working to obtain nuclear-capable missiles, something the Iranians deny.

The Security Council has scheduled a Dec 19 meeting to discuss implementation of the 2015 resolution on the Iran nuclear deal.

During last year’s meeting, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the council to again ban Iranian ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons and to maintain an arms embargo that is scheduled to be lifted in 2020 under the nuclear deal.


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