Iran's President Hassan Rouhani announces partial withdrawal from nuclear deal

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani in a televised address on Wednesday has announced that it will partially withdraw from some of the commitments made under the 2015 International Nuclear Deal.

The announcement came after the US unilaterally decided last year to pull out of this commitment completely. The United States has also announced to cancel waivers to countries, including India, who have been purchasing oil from Iran.

Iranian state media says the country will stop curbing its stocks of enriched uranium and the heavy water needed by certain types of the reactor to ensure that nuclear fission can take place.  Iran said the action was being taken because the European Union and others did not have the power to resist US pressure.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council said the measure was necessary to secure its rights and bring back the balance after Washington exit the agreement a year ago on May 8, 2018.

It added that the remaining parties to the deal are given 60 days to implement their commitments, in particular in the fields of banking and oil.

The Council was referring to the commitment made by Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia to lift sanctions on Iran in return for it curbing its nuclear activities.

Meanwhile, China has called on all parties to uphold the Iranian nuclear pact. China said it resolutely



opposes unilateral US sanctions against Iran.

Russia also denounced US pressure and said it stood by the Iran nuclear deal. However, Britain has called Iran's decision an unwelcome step that could lead to new Western sanctions.

The deal in 2015 with Iran was widely hailed as a major diplomatic victory by Barack Obama's administration, but the Trump administration found it “defective to the core”.

In return for its compliance, all nuclear-related sanctions on Iran were lifted, reconnecting the country's stagnating economy with international markets.

Iran’s President while sounding the ultimatum, however, has said that this path is not that of war, but diplomacy with a new language and a new logic.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that the  United States would ensure Iran cannot build a nuclear weapon if Tehran pulls back from an agreement the Trump administration abandoned a year ago.

Appearing at a news conference in London beside British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Pompeo adopted a wait-and-see attitude to Iranian assertions that the country will stop complying with elements of a landmark 2015 nuclear accord.

Meanwhile, responding to Iran’s move, Trump administration has announced a fresh round of sanctions against Iran.