The E3 group of countries comprised of France, Britain and Germany called on Iran to refrain from any violent action and urged Iran to go back to respecting arrangements laid out in the JCPOA 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, according to Reuters.
This is while Iran's decision to row back on its nuclear commitments was in fact in response to the E3's failure to live up to their own JCPOA commitments which included safeguarding Iran's economic interests against the US sanctions.
The fifth step removes the last of operational limitations Iran had accepted within the framework of the JCPOA, that is, the limit on the number of centrifuges.
According to a statement by the Iranian government following the announcement of the fifth step, Iran's nuclear program no longer faces any operational restrictions, including enrichment capacity, percentage of enrichment, amount of enriched material, and research and development.
The statement adds, however, that Iran's cooperation with the IAEA will continue as before.
According to the statement, "if the sanctions are lifted and Iran benefits from its interests enshrined in the JCPOA, the Islamic Republic is ready to return to its commitments."
The three European countries also highlighted the importance of de-escalating tensions in Iraq and Iran, and reaffirmed their decision to keep their coalition in the region, calling on the Iraqi authorities to "continue to supply the necessary support to the coalition."
“We are ready to continue talks with all parties in order to contribute to de-escalating tensions and re-establishing stability in the region,” added the E3 group.
The United States terrorist forces assassinated Lt. General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s pro-government Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) — better known as Hashd al-Sha’abi — in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday.
Both Soleimani and Muhandis were popular figureheads for putting a stop to the rise of ISIL terrorism in the region.
MNA/
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