Iran to continue scaling back commitments on N-deal: says Rouhani

DUBAI/TEHRAN: Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday Tehran would continue to scale back its commitments to the 2015 nuclear agreement until the European Union fulfils promises it made under the deal.

Iran has gradually scaled back its nuclear commitments since May after the US pulled out of the deal and has called on European parties to the pact to salvage the deal by shielding Iran’s economy from US penalties.

Rouhani, speaking on state television, also said Iran would start working on more advance uranium enrichment centrifuges. Meanwhile, a senior Iranian security official said on Monday that the Middle East would be a safer place without the United States, Tasnim news agency reported.

Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, also said Washington has failed in its plans for the West Asia. "The US successive political and military defeats in the region forced the American authorities to admit the failure of their military presence in the Middle East which has cost Washington 8 trillion US dollars," Shamkhani said. The defeat of the strategic US projects has become clear to the world, he added.