Speaking to reporters on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that “as long as I know Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium has exceeded 300 kg as planned and we have explicitly declared that what actions we will do and we see these actions as our rights that are stipulated in the JCPOA.”
In response to a question regarding the possibility of sanctioning the EU trade mechanism for Iran (INSTEX) by the United States, Zarif said “that is Europeans’ problem and they have to take care of it themselves.”
There are obligations in the JCPOA that the European side has to abide by them, according to Zarif, adding that the launch of INSTEX is just preliminary step to live up to those commitments.
He criticized the Europeans for taking them about 14 months to operationalize the INSTEX, underlining that operationalization of INSTEX does not make sense to Iran without carrying out other obligations.
The foreign minister added that the Europeans’ actions so far have not been enough, so the Islamic Republic will continue with its previously announced plans.
He added the first phase of Iran’s actions in reducing its JCPOA commitments was related to the stockpile of enriched uranium and the heavy water stockpile which is underway.
The top Iranian diplomat added that the second phase of Iran’s diminishing JCPOA commitments is resuming uranium enrichment above the JCPOA %3.67 limit which will be implemented in the next stage.
- source : Mehrnews
