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Washington / Berlin / Paris / London (dpa) - Germany, Great Britain, France and the USA have warned Iran against restricting the access of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to its facilities.
This would be a “dangerous decision”, it said in a joint statement by the foreign ministers of the four states, which was published on Thursday after deliberations between the heads of department.
The ministers urged Tehran to "weigh the consequences of such a serious measure, especially now that new diplomatic opportunities are opening up".
At the beginning of the week, Iran informed the IAEA that it would no longer adhere to a central part of the agreement to prevent an Iranian atomic bomb from Tuesday next week.
The inspectors should then be denied unlimited access to nuclear facilities.
This would de facto leave nothing of the agreement.
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The Vienna Atomic Energy Agreement was concluded in 2015 between Iran and the USA, Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia and China.
Under President Donald Trump, the United States left unilaterally in 2018.
Since the change in power in the White House, there has been hope that the US could revert to the agreement under new President Joe Biden.
On Thursday, the US again expressed its readiness to hold talks with Iran about a return on both sides to the nuclear deal: If Tehran again fully complies with its commitments, the US would catch up.
The US is ready to start talks with Iran.
The European foreign ministers said they welcomed the "US intention to return to diplomacy with Iran".
Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in Berlin: “It is our common goal to restore full force to the nuclear agreement with Iran.
We are working to ensure that there are soon practical steps.
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However, Iran has emphasized that it will only want to return to the agreement after the US has taken a first step.
Specifically, the leadership in Tehran is demanding that the Americans withdraw all sanctions against Iran in advance.
Biden, in turn, has made it clear that he is not ready for this.
After withdrawing from the agreement, the Trump administration imposed drastic sanctions on Tehran, which contributed to the worst economic crisis in recent Iranian history.
The foreign ministers of the three European countries met in Paris on Thursday to agree on how to proceed with regard to Iran.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was connected via video.
The four heads of ministries also expressed concern about the "recent measures by Iran to produce up to 20 percent enriched uranium and uranium metal".
There is no credible civil justification for these steps, the ministers said in a joint statement.
"The production of uranium metal is a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon."
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After the US withdrew from the nuclear deal, Iran started enriching uranium and producing uranium metal, is now working with faster centrifuges and is storing far more uranium than permitted.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210218-99-501050 / 2