Mogherini expresses concern about nuclear activities in Fordow

According To Iran News, Iran’s resume of uranium enrichment on Fordow is a major concern for us, European Union Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a press conference on Monday.

“We always rely on the IAEA for verification,” she said, “IAEA inspectors were on the site in the recent days.”

“We expected their report later to today so would see our relation toward that later today,” she added.

“Full commitment [to JCPOA] remain crucial for our security eve if it is increasingly difficult to preserve it,” she stressed, “we will continue our effort to have a full implementation of the agreement.”

European Union foreign ministers on Monday debated ways to keep the Iran nuclear deal intact after the Islamic Republic began enrichment work at its Fordow site.

At talks in Brussels, the EU powers that signed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — Britain, France and Germany — were expected to signal what action should be taken as the bloc awaits a new report from the International Atomic Energy Agency later Monday on whether Iran is still complying with its commitments.

The Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said on Monday that the country is now producing more low-enriched uranium daily, after restarting an underground lab.

Salehi told AP journalists in Tehran that the country is now producing at least 5.5 kilograms daily (12 pounds). That’s compared to what Tehran had been producing — about 450 grams (1 pound) of low-enriched uranium per day.

Salehi said that’s due in part to restarting enrichment at Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear facility.

“I believe (that) in total, 5.5 kilograms is the daily volume of uranium enrichment in Natanz and Fordo,” Salehi told the AP, mentioning Iran’s other nuclear facility at Natanz.

The AEOI announced on November 6 that it had officially started injecting gas into 1,044 centrifuges at the underground Fordow nuclear plant in the fourth step of reducing commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal. The 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), allowed the first-generation IR-1 centrifuges at Fordow to spin without uranium gas.

Noting that the European and American politicians have reacted to Tehran’s latest move and are concerned, the AEOI head said Iran’s potentials have become active now.

Iran began reducing commitments to the JCPOA a year after the US’ unilateral withdrawal from the agreement and lack of any practical measures from the the European sides to safeguard Iran’s economic interests in the face of US sanctions.

The country stresses that all suspended measures will be resumed as soon as other parties to the agreement start to live up to their own commitments.

Salehi announced on Sunday, during the ceremony to start laying the concrete foundations of the second unit of Bushehr nuclear power plant, that Iran will produce up to 3,000 megawatts of nuclear electricity by 2027, which will avert emission of 21 million tons of pollutant gases.

The post Mogherini expresses concern about nuclear activities in Fordow appeared first on Iran News Daily.

“Participants recalled that the JCPOA … remains a key element of the global nuclear non-proliferation architecture and a significant achievement of multilateral diplomacy,” said the statement read out to reporters by Mogherini, who chaired the meeting.

The JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) is the official name of the July 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The participants underlined the importance of the full and effective implementation of the agreement by all sides, says the statement, Xinhua reported.

The United States was a party to the deal. But Washington withdrew from it in May 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran’s reversal of its commitments.

The post Mogherini Says Parties Seeking to Preserve Iran Deal appeared first on Iran News Daily.

In a post on his Twitter account on Tuesday, Zarif criticized the E3 – France, Germany, and the UK – for failing to fulfill their obligations under the JCPOA due to US pressures, stressing that no new deal will be negotiated until the current one is fully honored.

“E3’s paralysis in fulfilling their obligations w/o US permission has been clear since May 2018. Solution to this deficiency: mustering will to forge independent path—not parroting absurd US claims & requests INCONSISTENT with JCPOA. No new deal before compliance w/ current one,” Zarif tweeted.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, US, Britain, France, and Germany) on July 14, 2015, reached a conclusion over the text of the JCPOA.

The accord took effect in January 2016 and was supposed to terminate all nuclear-related sanctions against Iran all at once, but its implementation was hampered by the US policies and its eventual withdrawal from the deal.

On May 8, 2018, Trump pulled his country out of the nuclear accord.

Following the US withdrawal, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the deal.

However, the EU’s failure to ensure Iran’s economic interests forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments, including an unlimited rise in the stockpile of enriched uranium.

The post Iran’s Zarif, EU’s Mogherini Meet in New York appeared first on Iran News Daily.

But she added “first and foremost what is existing needs to be preserved” — specifically the 2015 deal known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA.

“We will always advocate for the full respect by all sides of the UNSC resolutions and that includes the JCPOA,” she said.

At the G7 summit in Biarritz, US President Donald Trump showed openness to his French counterpart’s proposal of a summit with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper followed up on Wednesday by urging Tehran to engage, but Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Washington must first return to the the deal and halt “economic terrorism” against his country.

The post JCPOA Must Stay If US Wants Talks with Iran: EU appeared first on Iran News Daily.

“Following the previous meeting of the JCPOA joint commission on June 28, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s new policy of halting the implementation of some of its JCPOA commitments yielded obvious and practical results, and the European sides requested that the new situation be discussed in a Joint Commission meeting at the level of deputies before the meeting of foreign ministers,” Mousavi said.

He added that in the meantime, Iran has also announced a series of new cases of non-implementation of the JCPOA commitments by the other parties in regard to the efficacy of the removal of sanctions, in a letter signed by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and the other JCPOA members.

As a result, the spokesman said, the JCPOA parties believe that it would be appropriate for the deputies and the political directors to discuss these issues as well before the meeting of foreign ministers.

“Accordingly, it was agreed to convene an extraordinary meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna on July 28.”

Mousavi stressed that “after all, this meeting will be no substitute for the next meeting of the foreign ministers, and is rather scheduled to provide an opportunity for putting forward the subjects and making better arrangements for the ministerial meeting.”

The post Vienna to host next JCPOA joint commission meeting on July 28 appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Mogherini said that there is no alternative to the JCPOA and it is important to maintain and fully implement it, according to Al Jazeera.

She reiterated the EU’s promises to Iran, which have not been realized yet, saying that the EU countries are still trying to work on implementing the financial mechanism they have created for Iran known as the INSTEX and this is the most difficult stage in the life of the agreement, according to her.

The EU top diplomat added that the INSTEX will become operational first between the member states of the nuclear agreement and then other countries will be allowed to join it.

According to Reuters, the remaining parties to the Iran nuclear deal do not see Tehran’s breaches as significant non-compliance and have not indicated any intent to trigger the accord’s disputed mechanism, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Monday.

“For the time being, none of the parties to the agreement has signalled their intention to invoke this article, which means that none of them for the moment, for the time being with the current data we have had in particular from the IAEA, that the non-compliance is considered to be significant non-compliance,” Federica Mogherini added.

The post JCPOA signatories do not see Iran’s reductions in commitments as major non-compliance appeared first on Iran News Daily.

“We support completely the idea of a regional conference proposed by Iraq and the EU is fully behind that and fully ready to support this idea,” Mogherini told reporters.

The Iraqi FM, for his turn, underlined that having negotiations is the best option to finish tensions in the region, noting that the Middle-East is not open to a new war.

Mogherini, in her trip to Iraq, also held separate talks with Iraqi President Barham Salih and Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi who expressed Baghdad’s willingness to resolve crises and establish peace in the region via dialogue.

Earlier on May 20, the Leader of the National Wisdom Movement of Iraq, Ammar al-Hakim said heightened tension between Iran and US can have negative consequences for the region, suggesting that Baghdad can play a mediatory role on this issue.

The senior Iraqi Shia cleric described the escalation of tension between Tehran and Washington as worrying, saying that such tensions endanger the security and stability of all countries in the region.

Referring to Iraq’s close ties with both Iran and the US, Al-Hakim said his country can play a positive role to get the two sides’ stances closer to each other and end the current conflict.

On May 21, the Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi says that Baghdad will send delegations to the US and Iran to help end tensions between the two countries.

Abdul-Mahdi said Iraq is “playing a role to calm the situation but it is not a mediation.” He said he will visit Kuwait on Wednesday to discuss regional issues.

However, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi has rejected as false the US claim that it has sent a message to Russia for negotiations at the level of foreign ministers.

Answering a reporter’s question on Sunday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi rejected as false the US claim that it has sent a message to Russia for negotiations at the level of foreign ministers.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has no negotiations with US officials at any level,” he stressed.

The post EU, Iraq supporters of peace proposal over US, Iran tension appeared first on Iran News Daily.

“I can confirm to you that we will have a Joint Commission [of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA] meeting this Friday. We are trying all we can, not as of today but since the very beginning of the signature of the agreement, the entry into force of the agreement and then the decision from the United States to get out of the agreement,” Mogherini said at the press conference on Tuesday.

“We have done, as the European Union, together with our Member States, with China, Russia and the rest of the international community, we have done all we could and we continue to do all we can to maintain the implementation of the agreement intact as it has been the case, until today,” she added.

“We will continue to do so in these days, in probably the most difficult conditions you could imagine. As I already had the opportunity to say before, the deal has, in itself, mechanisms and steps that can be taken in case of non-compliance with the agreement. But the focus we keep today and we will still keep even more so in these days that are probably the most difficult ones for the agreement, is to keep the agreement in place and to keep full compliance with the agreement,” she maintained.

Her remarks came as the US has ramped up its pressure policy against Iran by continuing to impose sanctions and taking undermining measures to weaken the country’s economic relations with the world ever since Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the nuclear deal last year.

Asked whether EU or E3 would trigger the implementation of the trade mechanism following Iran’s decision to reduce commitments to the JCPOA and its 60-day deadline to E3 for living up to their own commitments, Mogherini said “You will probably hear more from us in the coming days but, as you know, we have been working a lot with our Member States to put in place these mechanisms that allow legitimate trade with Iran to continue.”

“I believe that this is now ready to be operational and I hope that this is something that can help to keep Iran compliant with the agreement, as it has been so far and as we all want to see this continue to be the case,” she stressed.

The Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) is EU’s special payment channel with Iran, which was announced by the EU in January to secure trade with Iran and skirt US anti-Iran sanctions after Washington pulled out of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal (JCPOA) in May 2018.

Iran in turn has set up a matching channel called Special Trade and Finance Instrument (STFI). INSTEX, despite earlier claims, is said to deal essentially with food and medical trade, while Iran’s insistence on having the mechanism in place is mainly for its oil exports.

The post Mogherini says EU’s trade mechanism for Iran “ready to be operational” appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Undoubtedly, there is a meaningful link hidden in remarks of Mogherini and her advisor. A link, if it is interpreted as dissemination of news and apportioning the mission, is not a complicated one. Tocci’s remarks can be considered as the prelude and Mogherin’s as conclusion.

Tocci has claimed that Europe has no secret goals against Iran like the U.S. This claim is uttered while the U.S. and Europe’s two-way anti-Iranian relations have been shaped in the form of “Hidden Diplomacy” and it still goes on.

Since Donald Trump took office as the U.S. President, these relations have transformed and they have continued since the U.S. pulled out of the JCPOA.

Analysts in the international affairs are well aware that the output of this hidden diplomacy is the calculated delay of EU for launching the mechanism for financial exchanges and exercising constant pressures on Iran’s defensive, missile and regional activities.

Among Tocci’s remarks there is another issue which has been raised and it is about Iran’s 60-day deadline. Regarding that it is over one year that the U.S. has pulled out of the JCPOA, even giving 60 days as a deadline seems too much and unnecessary.

Anyway, the European officials’ insistence for buying time is an issue to ponder over.  Actually the truth is that EU’s behaviors regarding the JCPOA and with Iran are follow-up of policies of the U.S. officials and Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s at the top of them.

Now, the White House officials have ordered EU to continue the tactic of buying time in regard to Iran and to the JCPOA in order that the U.S. can have more time to exercise more pressure on Iran’s economy.

So Tocci’s indirect demand from Iranian officials for extending the deadline for resumption of its JCPOA activities is itself a translation of a pre-planned policy between Washington and EU.

So it is obvious that Iran’s diplomacy system and foreign policy should not only reject  the demand but also pursue seriously its 60-day deadline to the Europeans , especially the European troika,  and remind them by an official statement that the country is determined on its decision and they will not retreat even with extending it by one day.

By: Hamid Reza Naghashian

The post Mogherini in Bargaining Mood appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The EU official had told reporters on Thursday that the bloc remains fully committed to the full implementation of the JCPOA, saying so far Iran has been fully compliant with all of its nuclear-related commitments. She also voiced hope that the EU’s full commitment to preserve the agreement would contribute to preserve it in the future, Sputnik news agency reported.

Foreign ministers of EU member states, as well as the bloc’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, gathered on Monday in Brussels to discuss ways of preserving the Iran nuclear deal.

The EU foreign policy chief added that she had chaired a meeting earlier in the day which, apart from her, included foreign ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom. The steps toward implementing a mechanism for sanctions-safe transactions with Iran dubbed “INSTEX” were discussed. Mogherini said she hoped for the mechanism to become operational in the next few weeks.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani announced on 8 May — one year the after US withdrawal from the JCPOA — that Tehran would partially discontinue its commitments under the deal. The Iranian president gave Europe 60 days to ensure Iran’s interests were protected under the agreement. Otherwise, Tehran is ready to take further steps towards scrapping the nuclear deal, Rouhani added.

The post Mogherini hopes Iran-EU financial channel to become operational in next few weeks appeared first on Iran News Daily.