IAEA comments on Iran's decision regarding nuclear deal
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors continue monitoring activities in Iran, IAEA told Trend commenting on the latest decision of Iran regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
"The IAEA is aware of Iran’s announcement regarding a fifth step in reducing its commitments under the JCPOA. The IAEA notes that the government statement also said that Iran’s cooperation with the Agency will continue as before. IAEA inspectors continue to carry out verification and monitoring activities in the country," said the agency.
The IAEA said it will keep its member states informed of any developments in this regard in a timely manner as appropriate.
The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran announced in a statement on Jan.5 the fifth step in reducing Iran's commitments to JCPOA.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran no longer faces any restrictions on its nuclear program, including enrichment capacity, percentage of enrichment, amount of enriched material, and research and development," said the statement.
As Iran said, from now onward, its nuclear program is merely based on its technical needs, while the country’s cooperation with the IAEA will continue.
In January 2016, JCPOA was launched between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, UK, France and Germany) in connection with Iran's nuclear program. In May 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the deal and imposed sanctions against Iran in November of the same year.
In order to preserve the agreements reached as part of the JCPOA, the European signatories of the deal stated in January 2019 that a financial mechanism for maintaining trade with Iran called INSTEX was formed.
On May 8, 2019, Iran announced that it had ceased fulfilling its commitments regarding the sale of over 300 kilograms of uranium, as stated in the deal, basing its decision on the other signatories having not fulfilled their obligations. On July 7, Iran announced that it will not be fulfilling its commitments regarding the enrichment of uranium at 3.67 percent and the reconstruction of the Arak Heavy Water Reactor Facility as stated in the deal.
On Sept. 5, Iran announced that it will enrich uranium using next-generation centrifuges and will not mix it with the enriched uranium residues as part of the third step of reducing commitments in JCPOA.
On Nov. 5, Iran announced that it took the fourth step in connection with reducing its commitments to the nuclear agreement. So, uranium gas is being pumped to the centrifuges at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.
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