TEHRAN- The United Kingdom and other European nations are anticipated to declare intentions to violate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal for the first time this October when they affirm they will not ease restrictions on Tehran’s missile program, as stipulated by the pact.

In an article published on Sunday, the Guardian said the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018 failed to push Iran to violate the terms and spirits of the deal. 

When the U.S. preferred to be out of the deal, Germany, France, and the UK remained party to the agreement.

The decision by the three European heavyweights to likewise violate the agreement poses a danger since it is unclear how Tehran will respond.

Diplomats from the EU and the UK cited Iran’s own violation of the JCPOA, the alleged sale of drones by Iran to Russia for use in its invasion of Ukraine, and the potential transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia in the future as justifications.

The 2015 nuclear agreement had a number of deadlines, or so-called sunset clauses, by which the West was supposed to waive some sanctions on particular organizations, but it had not been anticipated back then that the pact would be so widely violated.

According to a UN decision that upheld the 2015 nuclear agreement, the EU sanctions are scheduled to expire on October 18.

In addition, they prohibited anybody from acquiring, selling, or transporting drones or their parts to or from Iran without prior approval from the UN Security Council, which has not yet been given.