TEHRAN - Mahmoud Vaezi, President Rouhani’s chief of staff, said on Thursday that Iran does not seek to quit the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“We are not after quitting the JCPOA, however, we will do anything to protect the Iranians’ dignity,” he said in a meeting with local officials in Bushehr Province.

The comments by Vaezi came one day after Iran started to inject uranium gas into 1044 IR-6 centrifuges at the Fordow nuclear plant.

The presidential chief of staff said even China and Russia have announced that a “unilateral implementation of the JCPOA by Iran is not acceptable.”

Rouhani on Tuesday ordered the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) to start injecting uranium gas into advanced IR-6 centrifuges at the Fordow nuclear enrichment facility.

It was the fourth step by Iran to reduce its nuclear commitments in response to the abrogation of the multinational nuclear deal by the Trump administration and return of previous sanctions coupled with an inaction by the European signatories to the deal to offset sanctions.

According to The Telegraph, French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday, “I think that for the first time, Iran has decided in an explicit and blunt manner to leave the JCPOA agreement, which marks a profound shift.”

Hamid Baeidinejad, Iran’s ambassador to London, said on Tuesday that the decision to partially scale down nuclear commitments is only aimed at saving the agreement from a total collapse.

“We’re doing this because we want to salvage the nuclear deal from total collapse,” Baeidinejad told Sky News. “Because, in fact, the other sides have not been able to live up to their obligations, and Iran is resorting to certain actions to ensure” that the deal will stand.

Iran took the new measure as the Europeans missed the third 60-day deadline to fulfill their commitments to the deal signed in July 2015 and endorsed by the UN Security Council resolution 2231.

NA/PA