Iran President Likely to Announce Details of 3rd Step on JCPOA Wednesday

The Iranian president will most likely announce the details of Tehran’s measures in the third step of reducing the JCPOA commitments in a weekly session of the administration’s cabinet on Wednesday, the Iran Front Page has learnt. 

The new measures will be officially announced to the outgoing High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters upon arrival in Bangladesh on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, “If the Europeans do not take the necessary measures to carry out their commitments (to the JCPOA) before Thursday, we will definitely take the third step.” 

He also noted that President Rouhani will soon announce the details of the third step.

However, Zarif added, Iran’s third step would not mean an end to the negotiations. “We have made it clear in the (Supreme National) Security Council’s statement that we will keep on negotiations, and as soon as the other party begins to honour its commitments, we will also halt the activities we have begun under the Article 36 of the JCPOA.”

Tehran has already rowed back on its nuclear commitments twice in compliance with articles 26 and 36 of the 2015 deal, after the US scrapped the agreement in May 2018 and the European parties (UK, France, and Germany) failed to ensure Iran’s economic interests.

As a first step Iran increased its enriched uranium stockpile to beyond the 300 kilograms set by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. In the second step, Tehran began enriching uranium to purity rates beyond the JCPOA-limit of 3.76 percent.

The Islamic Republic maintains that all the measures are reversible, provided that the other parties fulfill their commitments.

In recent weeks, France has stepped up efforts to persuade Iran to avoid taking the third step.

An Iranian lawmaker says Paris has put forward a $15-billion credit line for oil purchases from Iran in order to convince Tehran to reverse its decision about a further reduction in the JCPOA commitments.