MOSCOW (Agencies): Mi-khail Ulyanov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to international organizations in Vienna, expects the imminent restoration of the Iran-ian nuclear deal and the lifting of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
“The continuation of co-ntacts and dialogue betw-een Iran and the IAEA is of paramount importa-nce, es-pecially at this stage, when we can expect the full re-s-toration of the JCPOA and the lifting of sanctions in the near future,” he wrote on Twitter.
The situation with Tehran’s nuclear program became more complicated three years ago, when in May 2018 the US withdrew from an agreement to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue and reinstated tough sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Iran, in turn, announced a phased reduction of its obligations, while the European participants considered it necessary to preserve the agreement.
In response to these unilateral steps by Washington, Tehran at the end of 2020 passed a law called “Strategic Action to lift the sanctions”, which calls for the intensification of nuclear activities to lift sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
On January 5, in the context of aggravated relations with Washington, Tehran announced the abandonment of “the last key limitation in the nuclear deal” concerning the number of centrifuges for uranium enrichment. It was reported that Iran has reached 20% uranium enrichment at the Fordow facility, which is enough to carry out some nuclear weapons work. The JCPOA conditions assume an enrichment of 3.67%. In mid-April 2021, it was noted that Iran was starting to enrich uranium to 60%.
In April, following the accident at the Iranian nuclear facility, the Islamic Republic’s government announced that it would install another 1,000 centrifuges at the Natanz nuclear facility and begin enriching uranium to 60%.
Earlier, Sputnik radio reported that the US will maintain sanctions against Iran even if it returns to the JCPOA.
IRNA adds: Iran’s Ambassador to the Vienna-based international organizations Kazem Gharibabadi said on Saturday that the IAEA Deputy Director-General for Safeguards Massimo Aparo is traveling to Iran in the coming days.
Gharibabadi said that Aparo is also one of the inspectors approved for Iran, saying his visit is in line with routine safeguards activities and within the framework of the Compre-hensive Safeguards Agree-ment. He added that Iran has no commitments beyond the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The one-month recording of the data after the termination of the three-month agreement was merely due to Iran’s goodwill, not Iran’s commitment to the IAEA, he stressed.
Gharibabadi added that Iran has no obligation for y-ielding to the agency’s de-mand, and the IAEA’s role is limited to a contractor.
