Russia strongly condemns the US decision to drop a sanctions waiver related to Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility and believes the decision violates U.S. international commitments, Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Moscow is continuing its close cooperation with Iran on the Fordow reconfiguration, the statement said.
Russian Foreign Ministry's statement was a reaction to the United States' announcement on Monday in which Washington said that it would no longer waive sanctions related to Iran’s Fordow nuclear plant after Tehran resumed uranium enrichment at the underground site.
The Iranian nuclear agency resumed uranium enrichment to 4.5% at Fordow nuclear facility by injecting gas into advanced IR6 centrifuges earlier this month as part of the fourth step to scale back its commitments to the nuclear deal (JCPOA). Tehran had agreed in the JCPOA not to conduct enrichment in the underground facility.
Iran demands the other remaining parties to the JCPOA to live up to their commitments and shield it against the US sanctions, which Washington imposed after its illegal withdrawal from the deal in May 2018.
Tehran has so far taken four steps back from its JCPOA commitments to pressure other parties to implement their share of obligations.
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.
Moreover, Tehran lifted all restrictions on nuclear research and development and announced it would use advanced centrifuges as its third step.
KI
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