Iran Calls for Immediate, Full Sanctions Relief

Officials won't cut enrichment for 'step-by-step' measures

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has issued a statement saying they will maintain their enhanced enrichment level until they get full and immediate sanctions relief as required under the P5+1 nuclear deal.

Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that proposals for a “step-by-step” process had been suggested, and would see Iran reversing its nuclear process, for only a small step of US engagement in the process. He said Iran considers this unacceptable.

With indirect talks coming up, France is urging Iran to avoid any further escalation as both sides try to work out the disagreements and get the process back into good standing, with everyone getting what they believe they’re entitled to under the nuclear deal.

That shouldn’t be that difficult, provided the US returns to the deal and is willing to apply sanctions relief as agreed to years ago. US refusal to keep the deal, and efforts to undermine everyone else’s enforcement of the deal, has been the chief reason Iran feels aggrieved, and why for the past years Iran has been reversing parts of its own participation in the deal, and letting its stockpile grow, to try to get talks on fixing the process.

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.