Europeans step up criticism of Iran for nuclear activities

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Three European powers warned Tuesday evening that the chances of relaunching the 2015 Iran deal were rapidly dwindling due to “Tehran’s continued nuclear escalation.”

It was the second statement criticizing Iran in a day from France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the three European powers that signed the JCPOA (Joint Global Action Plan) to the sides of China, Russia and the United States in 2015. The United States left the agreement. in 2015 and unilaterally imposed “maximum pressure” sanctions on Iran.

“Iran’s continued nuclear escalation means we are quickly reaching the end of the road,” the E3 statement said. Tehran has accelerated “the pace of the most sensitive violations of the JCPOA”, reduced oversight of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and left “the international community with less knowledge of the state of the nuclear program Iranian. [sic]. “All of this has undermined” international peace and security and the global non-proliferation system.

The statement was released ahead of the United Nations Security Council’s discussion of its resolution 2231, adopted in 2015 to endorse the JCPOA and which stepped up inspections and demanded the lifting of most international sanctions against Iran.

Since the United States left the JCPOA in 2018 and Iran began to exceed the nuclear limits of the JCPOA the following year, E3 has required both the United States and Iran to reactivate the agreement. But Tuesday’s statement made no reference to US “maximum pressure” sanctions.

“Robust response”

E3 insisted they remain committed to implementing the JCPOA and handed Tehran the responsibility of choosing between “the collapse of the JCPOA and a just and comprehensive deal, for the benefit of the people and the nation. Iranians “while the diplomatic door was” firmly open. . “

In her address to the UNSC, British Ambassador Barbara Woodward alleged that Iran had introduced “new maximalist demands”, many of which go beyond the JCPOA, since the suspension of talks in June for the Iranian presidential election.

“If Iran continues its current course of nuclear escalation, in weeks, not months, it will be responsible for the collapse of the JCPOA and for causing a serious crisis, which would require a vigorous response from this Council.” , she said. The United States and Israel recently signaled possible military action against Iran, but Russia and China are highly unlikely to approve of this at the UNSC.

Ali Bagheri-Kani, Iran’s chief negotiator in Vienna, tweeted on Tuesday that Europeans were engaged in a “habit of blaming gambling instead of genuine diplomacy” as Iran “worked constructively and flexible to reduce gaps “.

Russian Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Mikhail Ulyanov quoted Bagheri-Kani’s tweet while insisting that all participants in the Vienna talks should see diplomacy as a way forward. double meaning. “Of course, I am addressing these words to myself first,” he tweeted.

The differences with the IAEA are “narrow”

In addition to the Vienna talks and the United Nations Security Council meeting, Tehran said on Tuesday that gaps with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over access had narrowed. “I don’t want to go into details, but I can anticipate that the two sides will soon reach an agreement,” Foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told Press TV.

The Nournews website, which is affiliated with the Supreme National Security Council, later reported that Iran and the IAEA had reached an agreement on the replacement and maintenance of the agency’s equipment at the plant. Karaj manufacturing facility after Tehran completed security checks, which followed the June attack on the facility.

Earlier today, Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, reiterated that IAEA access to a centrifuge manufacturing plant in Karaj was not required under Iran’s nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) safeguards agreement. IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said access to the services monitoring equipment was agreed by Tehran in September in the latest temporary arrangement following Iran’s decision in early 2021 – following attacks on its nuclear sites and continued US sanctions – to limit IAEA access to that required under the JCPOA.

“When they fail to fulfill their commitments and impose tough, illegal and unfair sanctions on Iran and extend them every day, there is no reason to force us to honor them,” he said. “We are acting within the framework of IAEA and NPT safeguards and do not accept anything other than that.

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