The United Nations on Monday urged Iran to abide by its commitments under the nuclear deal, and to resolve disputes through a formal mechanism, AFP reported. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres made the appeal after Iran said that it has exceeded the 300-kg limit of low-enriched uranium stockpile, thus breaching the deal.
“It is essential that this issue, like other issues related to the implementation of the plan, be addressed through the mechanisms established in the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action],” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said for Guterres. The International Atomic Energy Agency also confirmed that Iran had indeed breached the limit of low-enriched uranium that was imposed by the nuclear deal, PTI reported.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif had said that the “measures are reversible” but warned that if Europe does not take the required action to uphold their side of the deal then Iran can continue to not keep to the terms of the agreement.
United States President Donald Trump, in response, said he had no message for Iran. “No message to Iran. They know what they’re doing,” he said, according to Al Jazeera. “They know what they’re playing with, and I think they’re playing with fire. So, no message to Iran whatsoever.”
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also released a statement calling for Iran to stop all uranium enrichment. “The Iranian regime, armed with nuclear weapons, would pose an even greater danger to the region and to the world,” the statement said. “The United States is committed to negotiating a new and comprehensive deal with the Iranian regime to resolve its threats to international peace and security.”
Pompeo said that as long as Iran continued to reject diplomacy and kept expanding its nuclear programme, the economic pressure and diplomatic isolation will escalate. The US secretary of state alleged that the Iranian regime has taken latest steps to progress its nuclear goals.
“No nuclear deal should ever allow the Iranian regime to enrich uranium at any level,” the statement said. “Starting in 2006, the United Nations Security Council passed six resolutions requiring the regime to suspend all enrichment and reprocessing activity. It was the right standard then; it is the right standard now.”
The Trump administration also urged the global community to restore the “long-standing and nonproliferation standard of no enrichment for Iran’s nuclear programme”, Pompeo said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said European countries party to the deal should “stand behind their commitments” and impose sanctions on Iran.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Iran’s move was a cause for “regret” but also “a natural consequence of recent events”, the result of “unprecedented pressure” from the US. “One mustn’t dramatize the situation,” Ryabkov said.
Iran has often threatened to cross the 300-kg limit unless it got some relief from the sanctions imposed on the country. The other signatories of the nuclear deal, which was originally signed by six world powers and Iran, were struggling to keep it afloat after United States President Donald Trump walked out of it.
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