Iranian, German Leaders Raise Challenges To Nuclear Deal In Phone Call

Iranian, German Leaders Raise Challenges to Nuclear Deal in Phone Call

TEHRAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th February, 2021) Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed outlooks for salvaging the nuclear deal during a phone call on Wednesday night.

Rouhani again urged Europe to hold up its part of the bargain by shielding Tehran from "inhumane, illegal" US sanctions and bring Washington back into compliance, according to a statement on his website.

"If we really want to maintain the JCPOA and its goals we must see its effectiveness in practice ... and Europe must prove it in practice," he was quoted as saying.

Rouhani added that Tehran would not agree to renegotiate the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal, which he said was "unchangeable."

Merkel said she wanted to preserve the accord but criticized Iran's refusal to return to nuclear commitments after it gradually broke the limits on uranium enrichment, following the US decision to abandon the pact.

"It is time for positive signals that build trust and increase the chances of finding a diplomatic solution," Steffen Seibert, the German government spokesman, was quoted as saying in a statement.

In 2015, Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and the EU. The plan required Iran to scale back its nuclear program and severely downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including lifting the arms embargo five years after the deal's adoption. In 2018, the US abandoned its conciliatory stance on Iran, withdrawing from the JCPOA and implementing hard-line policies against Tehran.

In December 2020, Iran passed a law to increase its uranium enrichment and stop UN inspections of its nuclear sites in response to the killing of nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. At the beginning of January, Iran's atomic energy organization announced that the country had succeeded in enriching uranium at 20 percent at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.