Iran playing with fire
US President Donald Trump warned Monday that Iran is “playing with fire” after Tehran said it exceeded a limit on enriched uranium reserves under a 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by Washington.
Israel urged European states to sanction Iran, while Russia, France and China voiced regret but said the move was a consequence of US pressure, which has pushed the deal towards collapse.
Britain called on Tehran “to avoid any further steps away” from the landmark deal, and the UN said Iran must stick to its commitments under the accord.
“Iran has crossed the 300-kilogram limit based on its plan” announced in May, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told semi-official news agency ISNA.
But he also said the move could be reversed.
“They know what they’re doing. They know what they’re playing with and I think they’re playing with fire,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about Iran.
The United States withdrew from the nuclear deal last year and hit Iran’s crucial oil exports and financial transactions as well as other sectors with biting sanctions.
Tehran, which has sought to pressure the remaining parties to save the deal, announced on May 8 it would no longer respect the limit set on its enriched uranium and heavy water stockpiles.
It threatened to abandon further nuclear commitments unless the remaining partners -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia -- helped it circumvent sanctions, especially to sell its oil.
IRAN REJECTS ACCUSATION
The White House had earlier said “the United States and its allies will never allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons,” vowing to continue exerting “maximum pressure” on the regime.
“It was a mistake under the Iran nuclear deal to allow Iran to enrich uranium at any level,” spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.
The statement added that “even before the deal’s existence, Iran was violating its terms,” to which Zarif reacted yesterday by tweeting “seriously?”
France urged Iran to rapidly reverse its breach of the nuclear pact.
In a statement, President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday he had “noted with concern” Tehran’s overstepping of the limit set in the 2015 deal with world powers and called on Iran “to immediately reverse this overshoot and abstain from any other measure that would undermine its nuclear obligations”.
The French leader also said he would continue in the coming days to work towards a resolution of the standoff between Iran and the US.
Russia yesterday urged Iran not to give in to emotion and instead abide by its nuclear agreements.
“We call on our Iranian colleagues to show sangfroid, not to give in to emotions by any means and observe key provisions of the IAEA Safeguards Agreement and the Additional Protocol to this agreement,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
China, like France a signatory to the 2015 deal, said it regretted Iran’s move but urged all parties to exercise restraint and said the US policy of increasing pressure on Iran was the “root cause of the current tensions”, reported Reuters.
Britain’s Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt said on Twitter that London was “deeply worried” and urged Iran to “come back to compliance” with the nuclear deal.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said it was “essential” that Iran stick to the deal.
EFFORTS NOT ENOUGH
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged European countries to impose sanctions on his country’s arch-foe Iran, reported AFP.
Trump spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday about Iran’s breach of the nuclear deal limit, the White House said.
The US president expressed hope in an interview broadcast Monday -- which was taped prior to Iran’s announcement on the uranium limit -- that Tehran will come to the negotiating table.
“Hopefully, at some point, they’ll come back and they’ll say, ‘We’re going to make a deal.’ Let’s see what happens,” Trump told Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
The European Union said Friday after a crisis meeting aimed at salvaging the deal that a special payment mechanism set up to help Iran skirt the sanctions, known as INSTEX, was finally “operational” and that the first transactions were being processed.
But “the Europeans’ efforts were not enough, therefore Iran will go ahead with its announced measures,” Zarif said.
INSTEX, which “is just the beginning” of their commitments, has not yet been fully implemented, he added.
The latest tensions coincide with a build-up of US forces in the Gulf and a series of incidents including Iran’s shooting down of a US drone it claimed had entered its airspace.
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