DUBAI: Iran will review its cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog should it face “unjust” measures, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said, after EU powers last week triggered a dispute mechanism under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal.
The move by France, Britain and Germany amounts to formally accusing Iran of violating the terms of the deal and could lead eventually to reimposing UN sanctions that were lifted under the pact.
“We state openly that if the European powers, for any reason, adopt an unfair approach in using the dispute mechanism, we will seriously reconsider our cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency,” state TV quoted Larijani as saying.
Tehran has continued to gradually roll back its nuclear commitments under the pact in reaction to sanctions reimposed by Washington since the US quit the nuclear deal in 2018. Tehran said last week it would abandon limits on enriching uranium, though it would continue to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA), which is policing the nuclear pact.
President Hassan Rouhani, architect of the nuclear deal, has repeatedly said that Tehran’s nuclear steps were reversible if Tehran’s economy was shielded by other parties to the deal from US penalties. Under the deal between Iran and major powers, Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for lifting international sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
The three European nations said they still wanted the 2015 nuclear deal to succeed and were not joining a “maximum pressure” campaign by the United States. The mechanism involves a Joint Commission, whose members are Iran, Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain and the European Union, seeking to resolve the dispute.
A group of Iranian lawmakers signed a statement on Sunday warning the European powers to “stop their hostile approach” toward Tehran, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. “Otherwise we, as representatives of the Iranian nation, will decide whether Iran should remain in the nuclear deal or whether it should continue its cooperation with the IAEA,” the lawmakers said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, not parliament, has the last say on state matters such as Tehran’s nuclear standoff with the West. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that, instead of following the US’ maximum pressure campaign against Iran, the EU will stick to diplomacy in order to avoid further escalation of tensions in the region.
The US and Europe have a “different approach” to Iran and the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) for its nuclear program, Maas told Bild am Sonntag newspaper, in an interview published on Saturday.
“While the US unilaterally abandoned the nuclear agreement and imposed maximum pressure [on Tehran], we want to achieve progress through negotiations. France, Britain and Germany want to keep the deal to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons,” Maas stated.
The minister added that “pure threats” and military action have done “nothing” to change Iran’s behavior. “We want to prevent a firestorm in the Middle East. The EU relies on diplomacy, not escalation,” Maas stressed. The JCPOA took a dent in 2018, after US had left the agreement, while accusing Iran of secretly violating it. Iran insisted that it was complying with the deal, and the global watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in its reports at the time had confirmed it. Washington, nevertheless, re-imposed several rounds of sweeping sanctions on Iran, and urged the EU to follow suit.