Iran threatens to exit nuclear deal in weeks

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Europe

Iran nuclear deal is in the intensive care unit (ICU), and Iran is likely to exit the deal in coming weeks, Iran Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Friday.

Araghchi made the remarks and called for Europe to take effective steps towards maintaining Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA).

If Europe and other signatories of JCPoA want to maintain Iran’s nuclear deal, they must sacrifice more in this respect, Araghchi told reporters in Vienna.

US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif pose before resuming talks in Lausanne, March 16, 2015. /Reuters Photo

The deal has lost its balance after the US withdrew from it and re-impose sanctions on Tehran, he said.

The JCPoA was struck on July 14, 2015, in Vienna, Austria by Iran and the so-called EU3+3 powers: EU members France, Germany and Britain, plus the US, Russia and China.

It was the culmination of a decade of talks aimed at reining in Iran’s nuclear program and was welcomed as a historic move by its signatories.

A supporter of moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani celebrates his victory in Iran’s presidential election along a street in Tehran, June 16, 2013. /Reuters Photo

While the US withdrew from the deal in May, its European allies, Germany, the UK and France, remained the party to the Iran nuclear deal, which lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbing its atomic program.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was visiting Jordan on Thursday, said European countries wanted to maintain the 2015 accord. But she also said they shared concerns over Iran's ballistic missile program.

(Top image: Iranian workers stand in front of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, about 1,200 km south of Tehran, Oct. 26, 2010. /Reuters Photo)