Iran warns of a step-by-step withdrawal from JCPOA, Europe urges Iran’s commitment

Tabnak – Iran’s decision to reduce its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal has been met with widespread international reactions. While the European parties of the deal urge Iran to continue fulfilling its commitments, Tehran warns of step-by-step withdrawal from the deal if its real benefits are not satisfied.

In this vein, an Iranian deputy foreign minister said although the country’s move to roll back some of its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal is not tantamount to withdrawal from the agreement, Tehran has put a piecemeal pullout from the JCPOA on its agenda.

Speaking at a televised interview on Wednesday night, Abbas Araqchi said Iran’s new decision to back off from a series of commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was neither a pullout from nor a violation of the nuclear deal.

He underlined that Articles 26 and 36 of the JCPOA stipulate that Iran has the right to reduce its commitments partially or totally if the other parties fail to honor their commitments.

“Today, nobody in the world can accuse us of violating the JCPOA… However, we have put withdrawal from the JCPOA on the agenda, albeit in a piecemeal manner, meaning that we will be ready to return to our previous commitments at any stage when the other sides fulfill theirs. Our policy is to give diplomacy an opportunity and make time for the other countries to make up for their failures,” he added.

Araqchi further echoed a warning by President Hassan Rouhani that taking Iran’s case to the UN Security Council for the reinstatement of sanctions will be Tehran’s “red line”, which will totally ruin the JCPOA and force Iran to take other measures.

Meanwhile, the European Union rejected a 60-day ultimatum Iran has issued for the JCPOA parties to honor their commitments, urging Tehran to continue to fully honor the 2015 nuclear deal.

In a joint statement on Thursday, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK dismissed an ultimatum given by Iran that requires the JCPOA parties to fulfill Tehran’s oil and banking interests under the nuclear deal within 60 days.

“We note with great concern the statement made by Iran concerning its commitments under the JCPOA,” the EU statement said.

“We remain fully committed to the preservation and full implementation of the JCPOA, a key achievement of the global nuclear non-proliferation architecture, which is in the security interest of all,” it added.

“We strongly urge Iran to continue to implement its commitments under the JCPOA in full as it has done until now and to refrain from any escalatory steps,” the Europeans said.

“We reject any ultimatums and we will assess Iran’s compliance on the basis of Iran’s performance regarding its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA and the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons). In this respect, we recall the key role of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) monitoring and verification of the implementation by Iran of its nuclear-related commitments,” read the statement.

On Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council announced that Tehran will stop honoring certain commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, which had already been scrapped by the US.

At a cabinet session later in the day, President Hassan Rouhani said the five remaining parties to the JCPOA -Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany- have been informed of Tehran’s decision to refuse to continue honoring two commitments under the deal.