Iran Says It Will Not Extend 60-Day Nuclear Deal Deadline

Iran will not extend a 60-day deadline for it to start pulling out of more commitments agreed under its nuclear deal, the spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said on Wednesday.

Iran stopped complying in May with some commitments in the 2015 nuclear deal that was agreed with global powers, after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 and re-introduced sanctions on Tehran.

Iran said in May it would start enriching uranium at a higher level, unless world powers protected its economy from U.S. sanctions within 60 days.

Kamalvandi said on Monday: “We have quadrupled the rate of enrichment [of uranium] and even increased it more recently, so that in 10 days it will bypass the 300 kg limit.”

“Iran’s reserves are every day increasing at a more rapid rate,” he told state media, adding that “the move will be reversed once other parties fulfill their commitments.”

The move further undermines the nuclear pact also signed by Russia, Britain, Germany, China and the European Union, but Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the collapse of the deal would not be in the interests of the region or the world.

The nuclear deal seeks to head off any pathway to an Iranian nuclear bomb in return for the removal of most international sanctions.

“Iran’s two-month deadline to remaining signatories of the JCPOA [nuclear deal] cannot be extended, and the second phase will be implemented exactly as planned,” Kamalvandi was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency.