“It would clearly be a wrong signal,” the French diplomatic source said, according to Reuters on Tuesday while referring to warnings by Iranian officials to reduce a further commitment to the deal later this week.
“The strength of our approach is that it responds to a need ... to break the escalation and take new commitments. If it is not Friday because the Iranians have taken new measures, the same necessity will remain,” the source added.
Earlier today, France's foreign minister Le Drian on Tuesday said talks with Iran over the creation of credit lines guaranteed by Iranian oil revenues were continuing, while adding that the US sanctions waivers for Iranian oil exports were needed to launch the credit line.
The talks on the credit line is while the the foreign ministers of three major Europeans announced the launch of the INSTEX at the start of this year but it has yet to come into force. The Europeans have not taken any practical steps to make up for Iran's losses after the US illegal withdrawal from the nuclear deal last year.
Iran has warned that the it will take the third step to reduce JCPOA-related commitments firmly if the EU countries do not take practical steps to live up to their own commitments to the deal by Thursday.
An Iranian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araghchi and comprised of the deputy Governor of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and a representative from Oil Ministry as well as Iran’s envoy to France held intensive negotiations with French diplomats in Paris on Monday afternoon to discuss and advance the ongoing initiative between presidents of Iran and France.
On May 8, the anniversary of the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal (JCPOA), Iran announced that it was partially discontinuing its obligations under the JCPOA and urged nuclear deal remaining signatories – China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom – to shield Tehran from Washington's sanctions.
Tehran says its countermeasures fit within its rights under paragraphs 26 and 36 of the nuclear deal, and that it will reverse the measures once its demands are met.
As a first step, Iran increased its enriched uranium stockpile to a level above the 300 kilograms set by the JCPOA.
In the second step, Tehran began enriching uranium to purity rates beyond the JCPOA-limit of 3.76 percent and it has announced that it may increase the level of uranium enrichment to pre-JCPOA era to 20% as the third step to reduce its JCPOA-related commitments.
KI/PR