Iran’s enrichment limitation voluntary step: Russia's IAEA envoy

The Russian envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Iran accepted to limit the amount of its low-enriched uranium only as a voluntary step, adding that the UN nuclear agency does not enforce any limitations on the volume of the product that the Islamic Republic can keep.

“There are no limits on Iran's low-enriched uranium (LEU) monitored by the international regulator,” Russia’s Interfax news agency reported, citing a Thursday tweet by Mikhail Ulyanov.

“For objective assessment, one should not forget that in principle there are no limits on the amount of LEU (low-enriched uranium) for NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) State Parties, provided that LEU remains under international control," he added.

"Iran voluntarily accepted the limit on LEU as part of the Iran deal, which is fundamentally undermined by US sanctions,” the official noted.

Iran’s nuclear deal was initially reached between the P5+1 group of states — the United States, the UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany — and Iran in Vienna in July 2015. It is officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The fate of the deal has, however, been in doubt since last May, when the US pulled out of the agreement and reinstated the anti-Iran sanctions that it had lifted under the document.

This May, Iran initiated a set of countermeasures in reaction to the US’s withdrawal. The measures were also meant to prompt the deal’s European parties to restore their trade with Iran, which they stopped after the American bans were reinforced.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced on Monday that Iran had surpassed the LEU stockpile limit as part of the retaliatory measures.

PressTV-Zarif: Iran's enriched uranium stocks exceed 300kg

Iran's foreign minister says the country has increased the stockpile of its low-enriched uranium production to over 300 kilograms.

Ulyanov said Iran took the move “in response to illegal oil embargo.” Washington has avowed an intention to reduce Iran’s crude exports to “zero” by returning its oil bans against the Islamic Republic.

'Iran's measure, response to US sanctions'

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, meanwhile, said on Thursday that Iran’s measure to reduce its JCPOA commitments came in reaction to the US sanctions that had “made it impossible for the Iranian party to implement its obligations under the JCPOA.”

Repeating assertions made by other Russian officials, she called Iran’s move “a logical outcome” of the US actions, including the sanctions.

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Zakharova called Iran placed the 300-kilogram LEU limit as a volitional step, “which it had deemed acceptable [back] in 2015.”

On Tuesday, Zarif said the Islamic Republic will comply with the terms of the JCPOA as long as European signatories to the deal honor their commitments.

Zarif, in a post published on his official Twitter page, wrote that Tehran is committed to the full implementation of the landmark nuclear agreement as long as its European parties meet their economic obligations.

PressTV-‘Iran to comply with JCPOA as long as Europe does’

Iran’s foreign minister says Tehran will comply with its commitments under the nuclear deal in exactly the same manner as Europeans will.

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