TEHRAN - Director of the Russian Center for Energy and Security Studies (CENESS) Anton Khlopkov has said that the United States’ sanctions on the Fordow nuclear plant is a blow to the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the JCPOA.

In an interview with IRNA published on Saturday, he said the U.S. action in dropping sanctions waiver for Fordow is a violation of international law.

“In the past year and a half, the United States has taken various actions against the JCPOA which are contrary to Resolution 2231 of the United Nations Security Council, while the United States was among the initiators of this resolution and the JCPOA,” he said.

Resolution 2231 endorsed the nuclear deal and annulled all the previous sanctions resolutions against Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on November 18 that the U.S. will no longer waive sanctions related to the Fordow nuclear plant after Tehran resumed uranium enrichment work at the site more than a year after Washington withdrew from the nuclear pact and imposed sanctions on Iran.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on November 19, announcing that Moscow will continue its close cooperation with Iran on the Fordow reconfiguration.

The statement also strongly condemned the United States’ decision to drop sanctions waiver related to the nuclear facility and believes the decision violates U.S. international commitments.

Earlier this month, Iran started injecting uranium gas into centrifuges at Fordow under the supervision of inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog, officially going on with the fourth step since it began responding to Washington’s abandonment of the nuclear deal and an inaction by the remaining parties, including Europeans, to shield Iran from U.S. sanctions.

Iran took the first step to scale down nuclear commitments on May 8.  The other two steps were taken two months later each. 

In the first step, Iran removed cap on its stockpile of nuclear enrichment which had been limited to 300 kilograms. In the second, Iran started enriching uranium beyond 3.67 percent. And in the third, Iran removed ban on nuclear research and development.

NA/PA