“It is unlikely that we reach a conclusion with Europe by tomorrow,” Rouhani told a cabinet session on Wednesday, referring to the Thursday deadline set by Iran for Europe to implement its commitments under the JCPOA.

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“We will declare the country’s third step [to cut commitments under the JCPOA, which has an extremely important nature and will give a special boost to the activities of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran,” he noted.

The president further noted that a major part of differences with Europe have been resolved, but a final agreement has yet to be reached.

“For example, if we had differences over 20 issues, they are now only on 3 issues, and a major part of them have been resolved,” Rouhani said.

“Therefore, Iran will start the third phase of reducing its JCPOA commitments, and the details will be announced today or tomorrow,” he added.

Rouhani said Europe will be given another two-month deadline to return to commitments, negotiate, and reach an agreement.

Referring to his telephone conversations with French President Macron, Rouhani said “In our earlier conversations, there was a huge gap in our communications, but now we understand each other very well. They know what we want and we know what they want, and everything’s clear. In many instances, we have closed the gap between our views, but in some other cases, we still have our differences and we have not reached the final conclusion.”

Rouhani said Iran has set up a five-month framework for its talks with the French side that would last until the year end, adding “France says they will talk to other European countries, as well as China, and the U.S., and they will make the necessary coordination. Our talks with France is in this regard, as the country represents the EU and the three signatories to the nuclear deal.”

Elsewhere, the president described U.S. hawks, the racist regime of Israel, and some reactionary states in the Middle East region as three groups which do not want the relations between Iran and the US to be “fair” and “right”.

He said the day when relations between Iran and the U.S. became fair and just, it would mean a “permanent death” for the Israeli regime, “Because they are like foams on water and will fade away.”

“Every time we wanted to do something, these three groups, which have unfortunately taken over the White House, would not allow it,” Rouhani said, noting that the reason the US pulled out of the JCPOA was because of the influence of these three groups over the White House.