Iranian regime refused to participate in meeting with US and European powers to renegotiate nuclear deal

Iran has ruled out the possibility of holding an informal meeting with the United States and European powers to discuss ways to reactivate its 2015 nuclear deal., insisting that Washington must lift all its unilateral sanctions.

“In view of recent actions and statements by the United States and three European powers, Iran does not consider this the time to hold the informal meeting with these countries, proposed by the head of EU foreign policy Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said, according to Iranian media.

Iranian officials had said Tehran was considering a proposal by European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to hold an informal meeting with other parties to the nuclear pact and the United States, which has reimposed sanctions against Iran after then-President Donald Trump resigned from the deal in 2018.

Iran and President Joe Biden’s new US administration are at odds on who should take the first step to relaunch the pact. Iran insists the United States must lift the sanctions first, while Washington says Tehran must return first to comply with the deal, which it has gradually failed to honor.

Iran has defaulted on most of its nuclear commitments in response to sanctions.

The pact, also signed by Russia, China, France, the UK and Germany, limits Iran’s nuclear program in return for relief from international sanctions, so Washington’s abandonment has left it very low.

Threat against the UN

Iran on Sunday warned that it would give “an adequate response” if the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passes a resolution against it at its next meeting.

The head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Akbar Salehí, stressed in statements to Iranian state media that they had sent a letter to the UN atomic agency regarding this possible reaction, which ‘He did not detail but could target a recent verification agreement.

The IAEA Board of Governors will hold its regular March meeting on virtually Monday to discuss the nuclear dispute with Iran, and the United States wants a resolution condemning the actions taken by Tehran.

Iran last Tuesday ended the voluntary application of the Additional Protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which allows UN atomic agency inspectors access to any nuclear, civilian or military, in the country without notice.

The effects of this measure were however mitigated by the aforementioned temporary technical agreement, concluded between Iran and the IAEA two days earlier to guarantee the necessary verification for three months.

Referring to this arrangement, Salehí said his technical annex is “confidential” due to “the need to conceal the location of major installations in Iran”.

The agreement stipulates that the cameras that record information from nuclear sites will continue to operate for three months but that the footage will only be delivered to the IAEA if the United States lifts its sanctions within that time.

The IAEA confirmed in its latest report, released this week, that Iran currently has ten times more uranium than is allowed, a small portion of 20% purity, and that it has increased l use of advanced centrifuges, prohibited in the agreement.

With information from EFE and Reuters

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