Parties to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal yesterday met in Vienna for emergency talks called in response to an escalation in tensions between Iran and the West that included confrontations at sea and Tehran’s breaches of the accord.
Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and Iran have been trying to salvage the pact since the US withdrew from it in May last year and reimposed and toughened sanctions on Iran, crippling an already weak economy.
The European-led efforts to protect trade with Iran against the US sanctions have yielded nothing concrete so far.
Photo: Reuters
Earlier this month, Tehran followed through on its threat to increase its nuclear activities in breach of the agreement.
“All our steps taken so far are reversible if other parties to the deal fulfil their commitments,” an Iranian diplomat said before the extraordinary meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was due to start.
In response to the sanctions, Iran said in May it would decrease its commitments under the nuclear pact. Under the deal, most international sanctions against Tehran were lifted in return for limitations on its nuclear work.
So far, Iran has breached the limit of its enriched uranium stockpile as well as enriching uranium beyond a 3.67 percent purity limit set by its deal with major powers, defying a warning by Europeans to stick to the deal.
The UN Atomic Energy Commission, which has been policing the deal, has confirmed the measures announced by Tehran.
“[Trade vehicle] INSTEX, along with other measures, will be discussed in the meeting. Other parties should accelerate their efforts, otherwise Iran will take a third step,” the diplomat said.
The meeting in Vienna comes after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized a British-flagged oil tanker on July 19, two weeks after British forces captured an Iranian oil tanker that it said was violating sanctions on Syria.
Iran’s senior nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi yesterday said that Britain’s seizure of the Iranian tanker was a violation of the nuclear pact.
Britain has called for a naval mission to ensure safe shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, but an Iranian government spokesman yesterday said such a mission would send a “hostile message.”
Britain yesterday said that Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duncan had arrived in the Persian Gulf to join a British frigate escorting British-flagged ships through the Strait.
Meanwhile, Iranian Atomic Energy Organization President Ali Akbar Salehi yesterday told lawmakers in Tehran that Iran would restart activities at the Arak heavy water nuclear reactor, the Iranian Student News Agency reported.
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