MNA – An Iranian lawmaker said the third step in reducing commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, showed Tehran’s “seriousness” regarding its rightful demands from parties to the pact.







“The Europeans showed significant weakness in the face of the US’ breach of the nuclear deal and showed that despite their claims, they do not hold a [firm] stance in [this] political arena,” Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said on Tuesday.

Iran has clearly announced that should the remaining parties to the deal fail to meet Tehran’s demands, it will reduce its commitments to the deal step by step, he said.

"This is clear," Boroujerdi stressed, saying that “the three steps already are taken toward the deal are the sign of Iran’s seriousness in this regard.”

Iran is further scaling back its commitments under the JCPOA due to the inability of its three European signatories -- the UK, France and Germany -- to meet their end of the bargain.

Upon announcing his withdrawal from the JCPOA, US President Trump called it the "worst deal ever" and pledged to force Iran through sanctions into renegotiating a new agreement that addresses its ballistic missiles and regional influence.

The Trump administration has ever since targeted Iran's industry and oil exports with various sanctions in a bid to cripple its economy.

The European side has also failed to deliver on its pledge to save mutual trade by enacting a special payment channel that protects European firms from US sanctions months after unveiling it in January.

Fed up with the foot-dragging, Iran announced the first stage of its countermeasures in May by increasing its enriched uranium stockpile to beyond the 300-kilogram cap set by the agreement.

The Islamic Republic took the second step two months later, when it started to enrich uranium to purity rates beyond the JCPOA limit of 3.76 percent.

Tehran officially started its third step on Friday (September 6) by activating 20 IR-4 and 20 IR-6 advanced research centrifuges.