TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said on Tuesday that Iran is ready to implement the 2015 nuclear deal commensurate to what France and its European partners have been doing.

His comments came as a response to remarks by his French counterpart’s statement which urged Iran to continue implementing all of its obligations under the nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“We strongly urge Iran to continue to implement all of its obligations under the JCPOA, as it has done thus far, and to refrain from any measures that would put it in violation of its commitments,” French Foreign Ministry’s spokesman said in a daily briefing.

Mousavi said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to support and implement the JCPOA just as France and its European partners have done in the past year.”

On May 8, Iran officially announced that its “strategic patience” has come to an end as the remaining parties to the JCPOA have failed to compensate for the U.S. exit from the deal and reimposing sanctions on the country. 

In the first step, Iran announced that it stops selling stockpiles of enriched uranium and heavy water for 60 days. However, Iran warned if a conclusion is not reached in this time period, it will take other measures step by step and will accelerate its uranium enrichment activities.

Under the JCPOA, Iran’s stockpile of low enriched uranium is capped at 300kg and heavy water reserve at 130 tons.

“This announcement is for 60 days. We have announced to the other side, the five countries [Germany, France, UK, Russia and China], that if they come to the negotiating table in 60 days and we reach a conclusion and safeguard our main interests which are oil [sale] and banking relations, we will return to the previous situation of May 7, 2019,” President Hassan Rouhani told a cabinet meeting on May 8.

On January 31, France, Germany and Britain, the three European parties to the JCPOA, announced the creation of INSTEX, a special purpose vehicle aimed at facilitating legitimate trade between European economic operators and Iran. 

On March 20, Iran’s central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati announced that a mechanism similar to INSTEX has been registered in Iran, officially called the Special Trade and Finance Institute (STFI).

Iran has criticized Europeans for repeated delays in taking actions in line with keeping the JCPOA.

During a meeting with a group of Austrian MPs in Tehran on April 29, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi criticized European delay in implementing its special mechanism to save the JCPOA.

Speaking at the 9th round of Iran-Norway political consultations on April 30, Araqchi also said the international community has not responded properly to the U.S. illegal act in withdrawing from the JCPOA.

“The U.S. proved that it does not understand language of respect and interaction and can just talk with language of bullying,” he said.

NA/PA