Iran to start 2nd phase of reducing JCPOA commitments today: Dep. FM

By Trend

Today is the last day of the 60-day opportunity given to the Europeans and since Iran has not gained what it expects from its JCPOA commitments, it is to start the second phase of reducing its commitments, said Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran Abbas Araqchi, Trend reports citing IRNA.

Araqchi made the remarks in a joint press conference with Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi and the Government Spokesman on Sunday.

He noted that Iran had announced in the first phase that it had no commitments to the stock weight but rather to the percentage of enrichment so today Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has written a letter to the European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to inform her that Iran will not remain committed to the articles of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that define a limit for Iranian enrichment.

Araqchi said Iran has in the letter announced that it will increase it.

"The procedure may end in Iran's withdrawal from the deal, which is not what we want; but the sanctions of the US and lack of commitment by the other parties have led to it," said Araqchi elaborating on reducing Iranian commitments to the JCPOA.

He added that the move, of course, is in a way that there is chance for diplomacy and interaction during the period and if the chance is not used, no one should doubt that Iran's decision to reduce commitments will go on.