TEHRAN, May 8, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Iran has decided to suspend some of its
commitments under a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with major powers abandoned by
Washington last year, the foreign ministry announced on Wednesday.
“The decision of the high security council to ‘stop acting on some of the
Islamic Republic of Iran’s commitments under the JCPOA (nuclear deal)’ was
communicated to the heads of state of the countries” still party to the deal
— Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, the ministry said.
It said deputy Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi had handed the
decision to the ambassadors of the five countries in a meeting on Wednesday.
The meeting came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of
planning “imminent” attacks on a hastily organised visit to neighbouring Iraq
on Tuesday.
Washington has also deployed an aircraft carrier strike group and several
massive, nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to the Middle East as national security
adviser John Bolton warned Washington would respond with “unrelenting force”
to any attack by Tehran.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed the US military deployments
and stressed that Iran’s actions were not in breach of the nuclear deal it
signed with major powers.
“The Islamic republic has seen it suitable to stop acting on some of its
commitments and measures it voluntarily undertook” under the nuclear deal,
Zarif told state television from Moscow where he is on an official visit.
Emphasising that “Iran will not withdraw” from the deal, Zarif said “this
right has been set for Iran in the JCPOA; we are not operating outside of the
JCPOA but are in fact working in its framework.”
He said the measures were in line with Sections 26 and 36 of the deal,
which allow Iran to cease some or all of its commitments if the United States
or other parties fail to adhere to the agreement, including by reimposing
sanctions.
The United States reimposed crippling unilateral sanctions last year after
withrawing from the agreement, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan
of Action (JCPOA) in May.
Under the deal, Iran agreed to rein in its nuclear activities in return for
an easing of sanctions.