Iran Says Will Further Reduce Nuclear Deal Commitments

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the country will take a third step to reduce its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

"The third step in reducing commitments to [the nuclear deal] will be implemented in the current situation," the Iranian parliament’s news agency ICANA quoted Zarif as saying on August 3.

He did not reveal what the step would be.

Iran announced in May that it will gradually reduce its commitments under the agreement if others are not fully honoring their commitments.

Iran has already started both enriching more and higher purity uranium not allowed under the deal.

Under the deal, Tehran promised to limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, but U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement last year and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.

France, Germany, and Britain have tried to salvage the deal and proposed a complicated financial barter system designed to provide some economic relief to Tehran.

But Iranian officials have complained that the three European countries have failed to mitigate the effects of the U.S. sanctions.

"We have said that if [the deal] is not completely implemented by others then we will also implement it in the same incomplete manner," said Zarif.

Based on reporting by Reuters and ICANA