Iran warns of partial withdrawal from nuclear deal

The Iranian authorities sent a notice to the participants in the nuclear deal to terminate certain obligations. They explained their decision by the fact that the countries that signed the agreement did not take enough measures to compensate for the damage from tough US sanctions. If the parties do not resolve the situation in two months, Iran will refuse to comply with other agreements.

What's happened. notice of Iran's partial withdrawal from the nuclear deal The ambassadors of Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, as well as EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, received . Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a statement that the countries participating in the agreement did not take measures to compensate for the damage from US sanctions, so Iran is forced to reduce its obligations. In particular, they will cease to comply with the agreement to limit the stocks of enriched uranium and heavy water used in nuclear reactors.

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Essence of the deal. The deal, signed in 2015 with the participation of Barack Obama, involved the lifting of Western sanctions in exchange for limiting the country's nuclear program for 10 years. The main condition was the removal from Iran of 97% of the already produced enriched uranium and the refusal of its further production.

Problems . A year ago, the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal and later imposed economic sanctions on Iran. US officials have argued that Iran is not honoring the terms of the nuclear deal, while gaining too many benefits from the deal. to support trade with Iran bypassing US sanctions The European Union did not support the US actions and created a special mechanism . True, the proposed scheme will still not be able to protect against possible American restrictions - European companies will have to act at their own peril and risk. At the end of April, Donald Trump officially lifted all exceptions to the sanctions regime, which previously allowed the eight countries dependent on it to freely purchase Iranian oil.

What's next. Rouhani said the other parties to the deal must fulfill their obligations, including those related to banking and oil fields. If the participating countries meet Iran halfway, it will continue to fulfill its original obligations. If after 60 days they do not fulfill the conditions of the Islamic Republic, then it will continue to gradually withdraw from the agreement and suspend the modernization of the heavy water nuclear reactor in Arak (as part of the deal, Iran promised not to use this reactor to produce weapons-grade plutonium). Tehran also said that it intends to continue consultations on the deal with other countries, but at the same time it is ready to introduce retaliatory measures for any "irresponsible actions" (for example, new sanctions).