Iran Will No Longer Limit Civilian Nuclear Program

Will return to limitations if sanctions relief is ensured

Iran has announced that as a fifth and final remedial step under the P5+1 nuclear deal, they are suspending all restrictions on their civilian nuclear industry, and will be engaging in enrichment purely on the basis of their own needs.

This, as with previous remedial steps, is being done by Iran under paragraph 36 of the deal, in trying to get the remaining nations in the deal to comply with reciprocal obligations, which is to say sanctions relief. The US has withdrawn from the deal, and is preventing the EU from coming through with its own sanctions relief.

Iranian FM Javad Zarif says that full cooperation with the IAEA will continue under this new position, and that Iran is fully willing to return to full compliance with the entire P5+1 deal if they get sanctions relief.

Iran has been steadily scaling back commitments for months trying to get the European nations to come through with promised sanctions. The EU has complained about Iran scaling back its commitments, but has so far failed to deliver on talk of a special trade vehicle.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.