Iran expected to surpass uranium enrichment permitted under nuclear deal; Deadline for resolution set for July 7; Netanyahu: It’s a mistake to go back to the JCPOA; Iran files a complaint to UNSC over US drone.
Iran is expected to surpass the uranium enrichment stockpile limits permitted under the nuclear deal after talks with the remaining signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, nuclear deal) did not “do enough” to solve Iran’s economic crisis. Signatories of the nuclear deal met in Vienna over the weekend as Iran’s set deadline to find a solution amidst US sanctions draws closer (July 7). Representatives from Iran, Britain, France, Germany, the EU, and China reportedly met with Iranian officials in a last attempt to salvage the deal. According to Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, the signatories’ efforts were “not enough, and it is still not meeting Iran’s expectations.”
Iran has violated the nuclear deal and used it as an attempt to bypass President Trump’s stringent sanctions, the most recent passed last week targeting Iran’s Supreme Ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his office. President Trump claimed he is “ultimately is responsible for the hostile conduct of the regime… His office oversees the regime’s most brutal instruments, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.” Iran has placed blame on the US for its “economic war,” as well as on the Europeans for not “abiding by its commitments,” as recently claimed by the country’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed Iran and the imminent failure of the nuclear deal, reiterating Israel’s stance since negotiations with world powers on the agreement began. Explicitly referring to President Trump’s departure from the deal, he stated from Jerusalem last week, “When the president walked away from the deal… Iran tried to implant themselves militarily in Syria. We resist that all the time… we will not let Iran entrench itself militarily in Syria… We’re fighting Iran militarily in Syria, and President Trump essentially is waging a very forceful confrontation with Iran economically.”
Referring to the Islamic Republic as the “single greatest threat to world peace today and on the horizon,” he called for more to be done to prevent them from obtaining or producing nuclear arms. He assured that he and President Trump would never allow Iran to attain nuclear weapons, reaffirming that “It’s a mistake to go back to the JCPOA.”
Meanwhile, Iran has officially filed a complaint to the UN Security Council on a recent US “spy drone” which it claimed violated its airspace, according to Iran’s Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Legal and International Affairs.
