Normalization of JCPOA situation not related to missile program: Russian diplomat

"Many analysts say that normalisation of the situation around #JCPOA would require to address the missile program & regional behaviour of #Iran. Wrong. It is not prudent to mix up the nuclear dossier and other issues which have a chance to be settled only in broader regional context," Mikhail Ulyanov tweeted on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Ulyanov said in another tweeted message that the so-called “maximum pressure” policy pursued by the United States against Iran has failed to fulfill Washington's demand to target the country's economy and has only led to human suffering.

“US proudly (and justifiably) states that maximum pressure campaign had a devastating effect on Iranian economy. But this is one side of the coin,” Ulyanov, said in a tweeted post, Press TV reported.

Iran and the six world powers- US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany- signed a nuclear agreement, aka Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on July 14, 2015, after 13 years of intensive diplomatic talks. The US is no longer a participant in the deal as it withdrew unilaterally from the agreement on May 8, 2018.

In response to Washington’s exit and the ensuing failure of the remaining European parties to the deal to live up to their contractual obligations, Iran suspended some of its commitments under the JCPOA.

The Iranian cabinet in a statement on January 5, announced the country's decision to take the final step to reduce commitments to the JCPOA.

The cabinet further stated in its statement that as the fifth step to reduce its commitments, Iran will abandon the last key restriction in the operation field put up in the JCPOA literally "the limitations in the number of centrifuges".

It added that Iran's nuclear program will not face any kind of restrictions in such areas and will go on solely according to the country's technical needs.

Source: Iran Daily