TEHRAN - It is better for Iran to reduce commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, rather than quit the agreement altogether, Iran’s former ambassador to Norway has said.

In an interview with ISNA published on Saturday, Abdolreza Faraji-Rad said that Iran will take the fourth step in reducing nuclear commitments if Europe fails to fulfill its obligations.

He added that Iran’s actions in reducing commitments under the JCPOA are within the framework of the deal.

Mahmoud Vaezi, the presidential chief of staff, confirmed on Wednesday that Iran will take the fourth step to reduce commitments under the nuclear deal if the remaining parties fail to honor obligations by the scheduled deadline.

The remaining parties to the JCPOA are the E3 – Britain, Germany, and France – the European Union, Russia, and China.

On May 8, exactly one year after the U.S. abandoned the deal, Tehran began to partially reduce its commitments to the agreement at bi-monthly intervals.

In the first stage, Iran announced that it will not limit its stockpile of the nuclear fuel to 300 kilograms allowed under the deal. However, on that date (May 8) Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said if the remaining parties to the JCPOA, especially Europeans, devise a mechanism to protect Iran from the sanctions' effect in the two-month deadline it will reverse its decision. 

But since European parties missed the deadline, on July 7 Iran announced that it has started enriching uranium to a higher purity than the 3.67%, thereby starting the second step.

Again, as Europe missed the second 60-day deadline, Iran moved to take the third step, removing a ban on nuclear research and development (R&D).

The current deadline comes to an end in early November.

NA/PA