Rouhani says Iran took ‘minimum’ action on nuclear deal

Iran took the “minimum” action it could over the failure of its partners in a landmark 2015 nuclear deal to honor their commitments, President Hassan Rouhani says.

Rouhani announced on May 8 that Tehran would stop observing some restrictions it had agreed to in the agreement, in retaliation for Washington’s withdrawal last year.

Iran’s atomic energy organization said on Monday the country would soon pass the amount of low-enriched uranium allowed under the deal.

“What we are doing, despite some countries’ propaganda against it, is the minimum measure Iran can take,” the official government website quotes Rouhani as saying during a cabinet meeting.

“The basis and the spirit of the (deal) have been seriously damaged by other parties,” he says, adding that the accord’s goal was for Iran to have normal economic ties with the world.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have deepened since the US withdrawal as Iran has faced the crippling economic blow of renewed US sanctions.

Washington has also bolstered its military presence in the Middle East in a campaign of “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.

“No one can protest or blame us. We act based on law and in the framework” of the deal, Rouhani says.

— AFP