Iran warns to reduce nuclear commitments

 Iran on Thursday said it would further reduce its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, unless its interests are secured by the signatories.

Iran is determined to take further steps to suspend its nuclear commitments under the pact, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and the policy "will remain unchanged until the desired conditions are met and Iran's economic interests from the JCPOA are ensured," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was quoted as saying by local media.

Araqchi made the remarks in a meeting on Wednesday with his Swedish counterpart Anika Soder in Tehran, Xinhua reported.

He said despite Washington's withdrawal from the JCPOA and reimposition of sanctions, "Iran tried to keep the windows of interaction and diplomacy open, while Europe has only relied on political support and refused to keep the accord alive".

As a reaction to the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018 and its subsequent sanctions on Iran and Europe's sluggishness to save Iran's interests under the deal, Iran started reducing its nuclear commitments in May.

Since then, Iran has made moves to build stockpiles of nuclear fuel and enriched low-grade uranium to a higher level of purity, by activating advanced centrifuges to boost the country's production of enriched uranium, which had been restricted by the JCPOA.IANS