Iran will also stop voluntary implementation of the IAEA’s Additional Protocol, Amirabadi Farahani added…reports Asian Lite News
A senior Iranian lawmaker warned that Iran will expel the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors if the US anti-Iran sanctions are not lifted by February 21, semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
“If the sanctions against Iran, particularly in the fields of finance, banking and oil, are not lifted by Feb. 21, we will definitely expel the IAEA inspectors from the country,” Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani, a member of the presidium of Iran’s parliament, was quoted as saying on Saturday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Iran will also stop voluntary implementation of the IAEA’s Additional Protocol, he added.
“This is the law of the Iranian parliament and the government is obliged to implement it,” Amirabadi Farahani noted.
The main goal of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal was the removal of sanctions against Iran, he said. “If the sanctions are not removed, we will see no reason to fulfill our obligations.”
Iran launched 20-percent uranium enrichment process on Monday as part of its Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions which was approved by the parliament in December 2020.
In response to the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018 and re-imposition of sanctions against Iran, the Islamic republic stopped implementing parts of its obligations under the deal.
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the US is responsible for Iran’s recent decision of enriching uranium to 20 per cent.
The Iranian move was “a deviation” from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, but the “root cause” of such deviations is the “systematic gross violations” of international obligations by the US, the ministry said in a statement.
The US, contrary to Article 25 of the UN Charter, does not comply with the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and deliberately creates obstacles to its implementation for other countries, the ministry said.
According to Moscow, enriching uranium to 20 per cent has nothing to do with Iran’s compliance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Xinhua news agency reported.
All material enriched up to 20 per cent is under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which does not record its switch to the use for undeclared purposes that go against the NPT, the statement read.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran announced late on Monday that the 20-per cent enriched uranium had started at its Fordow facility and had reached the stability level.
In May 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the Iranian nuclear deal and reimposed harsh sanctions against Iran. In response, Tehran has gradually dropped some of its JCPOA commitments since May 2019.