Iran could return to the situation that prevailed before the conclusion in 2015 of the international agreement on its nuclear program, said Monday the spokesman of the Iranian Organization for Atomic Energy (OIEA).
"If Europeans and Americans do not want to act in accordance with their commitments, we, too, by reducing our commitments, will counterbalance that and return to the situation four years ago," said Behrouz Kamalvandi, quoted by Irna official agency.
"These steps are taken to give an opportunity for the other party to come to their senses"
In response to the US decision to unilaterally exit the agreement reached on July 14, 2015 in May 2018, Iran has begun to gradually break some of its commitments to force its partners to act to save the pact. "These measures are not stubbornly taken, they are an opportunity for the other party to come to their senses and fulfill their obligations," said Behrouz Kamalvandi, while the EU foreign ministers gathered in Brussels to try to save the agreement.
Concluded between Tehran and the Group of Six (China, United States, France, Great Britain, Russia and Germany) after years of efforts, the agreement provides for a limitation of the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions against Iran.
Iran would like to be able to get around the sanctions
But the reinstatement of punitive US extraterritorial sanctions against Tehran following Washington's disengagement threatens the deal by depriving Iran of the economic spinoffs it has been expecting.
Iran has been asking for months from the states still party to the agreement to help it bypass the sanctions, especially the possibility of selling its oil and pulling its financial system out of the isolation imposed by US sanctions. Since the exit of the United States from the agreement, Iran has repeatedly threatened to abandon it also if its "interests" are not guaranteed.