Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Monday [February 15] reiterated that Iran would stop implementing its Additional Protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if other participants in its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers did not respect their commitments by February 21. The step would reduce access of United Nations nuclear inspectors.

The move would be in line with recent legislation passed by the Iranian parliament, Khatibzadeh said. He explained it would not involve Iran abandoning its NPT Safeguards Agreement, under which inspectors from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitor the atomic program, and that all Iran’s steps would be reversed if other deal signatories honored their obligations under the 2015 nuclear agreement, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).

The foreign ministry spokesman criticized the administration of United States President Joe Biden for following in the footsteps of President Donald Trump, who left the JCPOA in 2018 and imposed draconian sanctions. Khatibzadeh said that continuing sanctions made the Biden administration “an accomplice” in violating the agreement. Nothing has changed in US behavior as “maximum pressure has continued,” Khatibzadeh said. “This is not a constructive approach and must end.”

On February 7, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Tehran would honor the JCPOA in full once the US lifted sanctions in a practical and verifiable manner. While Biden promised during his election campaign to return to the agreement, his plan has come under assault from critics, including members of Congress, and his officials have stressed the importance of consulting allies.

Commenting on recent remarks by Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi suggesting Iran should consider nuclear weapons if pushed into a corner, Khatibzadeh said that Khamenei had by religious decree (fatwa) banned Iran holding weapons of mass destruction.

Khatibzadeh said while the US did not need “messages” through an intermediary to fulfil its commitments, Tehran welcomed any efforts by the Qatari government to save the nuclear deal: “Qatar is one of Iran’s regional friends and partners. There have been close consultations between Iran and Qatar at different levels.”

The spokesman expressed disappointment at the February 12 statement of the European JCPOA signatories (the E3) – the UK, Germany, and France – and urged them to take a “much easier” path: “They should know that JCPOA is in a critical situation and these tensions do not help at all.”

The E3 statement expressed concern over Iran’s production of uranium metal, notified to the IAEA in January, in violation of the JCPOA as a “key step in the development of a nuclear weapon.” Khatibzadeh pointed out that uranium metal was needed in “advanced nuclear fuels,” a reference to its use in fuel plates for the Tehran research reactor. The spokesman pointed out that Iran had stopped produce uranium metal after signing the JCPOA.

The “coming together” of US and UK thinking on Iran and other issues claimed by British PM Boris Johnson on Sunday was insufficient, Khatibzadeh said: “We are waiting for real and effective actions.” A group of international nonproliferation experts last month warned that “failure to return to compliance” with the JCPOA could result in “destabilizing nuclear competition in the region and…[increase] the likelihood of military confrontation.”