Lavrov Says Tehran Had Right To Partially Suspend Implementation Of JCPOA

Faizan Hashmi Published May 13, 2019 | 10:26 PM

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that Tehran had the right to partially suspend the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)

SOCHI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2019) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that Tehran had the right to partially suspend the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"The announcement by Iran on reducing its obligations under the deal concerned the obligations associated with the upper limit for reserves of enriched uranium and of heavy water that can stay on the territory of Iran at any given moment ... [Under the JCPOA,] these obligations of Iran are voluntary and Iran has the right to suspend its compliance if the other parties to the agreement do not fulfill their obligations," Lavrov said after meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

He added that unlike Russia, not all parties to the Iran deal fulfilled their commitments.

"[During the meeting with Wang, we] confirmed the illegitimate nature of Washington's unilateral Iran sanctions aimed, in particular, at stopping the export of oil from Iran," Lavrov stressed.

He also noted that China and Russia considered it important to preserve the JCPOA.

Iran announced on Wednesday that it would stop fulfilling some of its obligations under the nuclear deal, one year after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement.

Tehran gave the remaining signatories 60 days to make sure that its interests within the deal were protected.