TEHRAN - Ali Rabiei, the government spokesman, said on Tuesday that Iran’s commitment to the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the JCPOA, will be commensurate to the Europeans’ commitment to the agreement.

“We will abide by the deal as long as Europeans abide to it, and in proportion to their commitment,” he said during a speech in ceremony marking International Day of Cooperatives.

He noted that all Iran’s actions regarding the JCPOA are line with efforts to save the deal.

Under the JCPOA, Iran had agreed to put limits on parts of its nuclear activities in exchange for the termination of all economic and financial sanctions. However, U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the nuclear deal in May 2018 and ordered sanctions on Tehran. Trump has even introduced full ban on Iran’s oil export, a move which has been described as an economic war against Tehran.

Ali Rabiei said, “The main objective behind the U.S. sanctions is a collapse of the Iranian society…. However, our people will pass this stage through spirit of cooperation and participation.”

“People know that if we signed the JCPOA, we wanted to serve the country’s interests and if we increase the purity of uranium enrichment, we know this action serves the country’s interests,” he stated.

Iran announced on Sunday that it has started enriching uranium to a higher purity than the 3.67%, as the Europeans missed a 60-day deadline by Tehran to devise a concrete mechanism to protect the country from the U.S. sanctions.

On May 8, exactly one year after the United States left the nuclear deal and reimposed sanction on Iran, Tehran announced that its “strategic patience” is over and announced a partial withdrawal from some aspects of the nuclear pact. The announcement, which was declared by the Supreme National Security Council, stated that the country would no longer adhere to some of the limits on its nuclear activities as long as sanctions are in place. It also threatened to step up uranium enrichment if an agreement is not made within 60 days to protect it from the sanctions’ effects.

Iranian First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri said on Monday Iran has remained in the nuclear deal even one year after the U.S. withdrawal, however, there is a “limit to patience”.

He said that the remaining parties to the deal have not done the least to save the nuclear deal after the U.S. withdrawal.

“So, it was natural that Iran respond,” he added.

Jahangiri advised the Europeans to use the 60-day time to protect Iran from sanctions so that Iran will not be forced to take retaliatory measures.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday that Iran’s steps in reducing its nuclear commitments are “reversible” only if the three European countries of Britain, France, and Germany (E3) honor their commitments under the JCPA, the official name for the 2015 nuclear agreement.

NA/PA