“We regret the decision of the United States, following Iran’s Fordow site and resumption of uranium enrichment, to terminate an exemption that would facilitate the conduct of civilian projects on this site,” French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll told reporters in an online briefing, AFP reported.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that Washington would no longer waive sanctions related to Iran’s Fordow nuclear plant.

“President (Hassan) Rouhani recently announced that Iran will begin uranium enrichment activities at the Fordow facility. Therefore, the United States will terminate the sanctions waiver related to the nuclear facility at Fordow, effective December 15th, 2019,” Pompeo told reporters on Monday, Reuters reported.

The US State Department had said last month that it renewed waivers for 90 days.

Kelsey Davenport, director of the Arms Control Association, said the decision could further jeopardize the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“This step further risks collapsing the JCPOA because it removes a tangible benefit to Iran under the deal,” Davenport said.

The French spokeswoman further said, “Iran’s resumption of enrichment activities at the Fordow site, with potentially serious proliferation consequences, is a new step that marks a regrettable acceleration of Iran’s withdrawal from the Vienna agreement.”

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA.

Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the JCPOA after the US withdrawal, but the three EU parties to the deal (France, Britain, and Germany) have failed to ensure Iran’s economic interests.

The EU’s inaction forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments to the nuclear deal, including a rise in the stockpile of enriched uranium.

Iran maintains that the new measures are not designed to harm the JCPOA but to save the accord by creating a balance in the commitments.

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Pointing to Iran’s action in reducing its nuclear commitments, he said the announcement by Iran is one of the “consequences” of the United States abandoning the landmark deal.

“Russia and President (Vladimir) Putin warned of the consequences that would be imminent after one of the countries decided to end its obligations and exit the deal,” Peskov said.

Iran officially announced on Sunday it has started enriching uranium to a higher purity than the current 3.67%, as the Europeans missed a 60-day deadline by Tehran to devise a concrete mechanism to protect the country from the U.S. sanctions.

In a post on his Twitter page on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, “Today, Iran is taking its second round of remedial steps under Para 36 of the JCPOA. We reserve the right to continue to exercise legal remedies within JCPOA to protect our interests in the face of US #EconomicTerrorism. All such steps are reversible only through E3 compliance.”

Paragraph 36 provided a mechanism to resolve disputes and allows one side, under certain circumstances, to stop complying with the deal if the other side is out of compliance.

E3 includes the three European countries of Britain, France and Germany which are party to the JCPOA.

On May 8, Iran’s Supreme National Council (SNSC) declared Tehran’s exit from “certain” obligations under the landmark agreement and gave a 60-day deadline to the remaining JCPOA signatories to protect Iran’s interests against U.S. sanctions, or it will restart high-level uranium enrichment.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, said on Sunday that Moscow understands the reason behind Iran’s steps in reducing commitments under the JCPOA.

“We understand the steps taken [by Iran], the reasons that pushed the Iranians to take them. We call on Iran to refrain from further actions that could complicate the situation with the nuclear deal even more,” he told Sputnik.

It will be possible to determine by how much Iran had increased its uranium enrichment limit in a few days, he added, stressing that a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran’s uranium enrichment levels may be presented at a special session of the agency’s governing board on July 10.

“In any case, there is space to continue diplomatic efforts, they will be continued,” Ulyanov noted.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, a top official at Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, announced on Monday that level of uranium enrichment has reached 4.5 percent. He said this degree of enrichment is enough to power nuclear plants producing electricity.

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Iran’s chief demand is that Tehran be permitted to export crude oil at the same levels before the U.S. reimposed sanctions.

Under the 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the JCPOA, Iran had agreed to put limits on parts of its nuclear activities in exchange for the termination of all economic and financial sanctions.

The special mechanism introduced by Europeans, known as INSTEX, only allows sale of food and medicine to Iran, items which are not subject to sanctions.

The step taken by Iran on Sunday was the second of its kind. In the first step announced on May 8, Iran announced that it will not sell its stockpile of enriched uranium enriched to 3.67 percent.

The JCPOA allowed Iran to keep 300 kilograms of uranium enriched to 3.67%. However, last Monday Iran announced that its stockpile of uranium has exceeded the 300kg limit.

Iran says it is limiting its commitments based on paragraph 36 of the nuclear deal. Paragraph 36 provided a mechanism to resolve disputes and allows one side, under certain circumstances, to stop complying with the deal if the other side is out of compliance.

“Iran increasing enrichment level to power nuclear plants”

During the presser, Kamalvandi said Iran is increasing uranium enrichment from the current 3.67% to a level that fulfills the needs of its power plants.

“This was a measure the Islamic Republic had in mind and also declared previously,” he said.

Kamalvandi also said Tehran has not yet decided on the level of enrichment for the Tehran research reactor.

The Tehran reactor is powered by nuclear fuel enriched to a purity of 20 percent.

On May 8, Iran’s Supreme National Council (SNSC) declared Tehran’s exit from “certain” obligations under the landmark agreement and gave a 60-day deadline to the remaining JCPOA signatories to protect Iran’s interests against U.S. sanctions, or it will restart enriching uranium to a higher degree.

It came exactly a year after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the JCPOA. The exit followed by introducing the harshest ever sanctions on Tehran in a clear violation of the UN Security Council resolution 2231 and pressuring other countries to violate the same resolution by cutting economic ties with Iran.

During the press conference, Rabiei criticized the U.S. revocation of the nuclear deal, saying, “Today, all those who are adhering to world peace are concerned about the United States’ actions.”

He said the U.S. aimed to disrupt social order in Iran by exiting the JCPOA. “Therefore, our big solution is social cohesion.”

Saving JCPOA is a principle for Iran, but it depends on other sides’ actions

The government spokesman also said Iran will not remain in the nuclear agreement “at any price”.

“Today, any action we take regarding [uranium] enrichment is to save the JCPOA,” Rabiei insisted. “Saving the JCPOA is a principle for us, but it depends on the other sides’ actions.”

Araqchi said Iran has reconsidered its commitments regarding the level of uranium enrichment program and “we announce that we no longer adhere to this commitment.”

According to Araqchi, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was to send a letter to European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Sunday to openly declare the articles of the JCPOA, to which Iran would no longer adhere.

In a post on his Twitter page on Sunday, Zarif said Iran’s steps in reducing nuclear commitments are “reversible” only if the European parties to the nuclear deal (France, Germany and Britain, also called E3) honor their commitments for trade with Iran.

60-day contingencies

“We would give another 60-day deadline, after which we will continue reducing our commitments [to the deal,” Araqchi said.

Araqchi told reporters that Tehran would continue its contacts with the European parties to the deal in order to find a solution “otherwise after 60 days we will take the third step as well.”

The remaining members of the JCPOA are the four permanent members of the UN Security Council – France, Britain, Russia and China – and Germany, commonly referred to as 4+1.

“The U.S. has withdrawn from the JCPOA and cannot use any of its mechanisms, but it can attend the P4+1 meetings on the said conditions. Our first condition is [the lifting of] oil and banking sanctions,” said Araqchi, who was a senior negotiator in the talks that led to the JCPOA.

He also said Iran had planned out 60-day contingencies for every European failure to meet Iranian demands and could potentially ultimately scrap the deal altogether.

On Trump’s repeated calls for rewriting the nuclear deal, the senior diplomat underlined that the deal would under no circumstances be renegotiated and that it should be implemented precisely as it is.

Iran able to redesign Arak reactor

The deputy foreign minister also noted that Iran was holding talks with Chinese and English officials regarding the redesign of Arak reactor, which the U.S. had originally undertaken to carry out under the JCPOA. He said those talks were proceeding for now but added that Iran has the will and technology to redesign the reactor on its own if the talks failed to produce favorable results.

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Behrooz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), announced last Monday that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium will exceed 300 kilograms by June 27.

Zarif made the remarks in a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Isfahan on Friday.

Cavusoglu had arrived in Isfahan a day earlier, on June 20, for a working visit at the invitation of Zarif.

During their press conference, Zarif said mutual relations are on the right track, adding Cavusoglu’s trip was important to the two countries’ strategic relations and signing of a political cooperation document between their respective foreign ministries.

Following a meeting between the two countries’ delegations earlier this year, Cavusoglu and Zarif also signed a plan meant to strengthen cooperation in bilateral, regional, and international relations during their Friday meeting.

Zarif also said that following a meeting earlier by the two heads of state in Tajikistan, Iran is ready to boost trade with Turkey.

The two foreign ministers also discussed energy, banking, and tourism relations, as well as the current state of affairs in Syria, Yemen, and the Persian Gulf.

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“Under the JCPOA, Iran can produce heavy water… and based on the agreement, we have not carried out anything in violation of it,” Larijani said on Saturday.

“Therefore we will carry on with enrichment activity. You can either buy it or not,” he added.

The administration of US President Donald Trump on Friday imposed sanctions on Iran’s export of enriched uranium but at the same time renewed three key waivers that will allow its European allies, Russia and China to cooperate with the Islamic Republic on civil nuclear program.

“Any involvement in transferring enriched uranium out of Iran in exchange for natural uranium will now be exposed to sanctions. The United States has been clear that Iran must stop all proliferation-sensitive activities, including uranium enrichment, and we will not accept actions that support the continuation of such enrichment,” the State Department announced in a statement.

Under the JCPOA, Tehran is limited to keeping 300 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 3.67 percent. As part of the nuclear deal, Iran is allowed to sell any enriched uranium above that threshold on international markets in exchange for natural uranium, with Russia a key player.

The waivers, due to expire Saturday, are extended for 90 days, the State Department statement added.

In a quarterly report released in February, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran continued to comply with the restrictions on its nuclear activities under the JCPOA.

It added that Iran remained within caps on the level to which it can enrich uranium and complied with limitations on its stock of enriched uranium in accordance with the nuclear accord.

Trump withdrew Washington in May 2018 from the landmark Iran nuclear agreement, reached between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), and decided to re-impose unilateral sanctions against Tehran.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Larijani said certain countries were making efforts to create problems for Iran but reiterated that the Islamic Republic was playing a leading diplomatic role in the international scene.

“We know what they are doing, but we are not like some novice (countries) in the region and we will do nothing … that may lead to further chaos in the region,” the top Iranian parliamentarian said.

They have waged an all-out psychological warfare, piled up economic pressure against the Iranian nation and caused chaos in the international scene, he added, emphasizing that such efforts may bring about certain temporary benefits for them but would undermine their positions in the world.

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Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said so in an interview with the German news magazine Der Spiegel published on Saturday.

“The Europeans and the other signatories must act in order to compensate for the effects of the U.S. sanctions,” he stressed.

The U.S. withdrew from the landmark agreement in May and began reimposing sanctions on Iran at the start of August, with further sanctions on the country’s finance and energy sectors to follow on November 4.

Zarif said Tehran might act if “the balance of give and take were destroyed,” adding that “oil and banks” are the litmus test.

This, however, did not necessarily mean that Iran would for its part withdraw from the nuclear agreement, the foreign minister said.

Partial or reduced implementation is another possibility, Zarif asserted.

The foreign minister said European parties to the nuclear deal with Iran must decide if they want to submit to U.S. pressure.

The Europeans needed to decide whether they are ready to let deeds follow their words, the chief diplomat added.

“The Europeans and the other signatories must act in order to compensate for the effects of the U.S. sanctions,” he said.

The EU has invariably opposed the U.S. withdrawal, calling the deal a pillar of regional and international peace and security.

Tehran has tasked the European signatories – the UK, France, Russia, and Germany – to make their continued commitments to the deal worthwhile by guaranteeing that the country continued to benefit from the economic rewards of the deal.

Zarif also rejected direct talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. He said Iran would only think about talks with the United States if the U.S. returned to the nuclear deal.

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