Zarif: Iran to further Curb Nuke Deal Commitments Sept. 6

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced his regime’s plan to further curb its commitments to the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal unless European powers are able to provide the Islamic Republic with financial relief beforehand. “The third phase [of freezing nuclear obligations] will start on September 6,” media quoted Zarif as saying. This follows previous steps by Iran to increase beyond stipulations in the nuclear pact the level to which it enriches uranium, as well as its stockpile of the same precursor required to build atomic weapons. Tehran has accused European parties to the accord – Britain, France and Germany – of failing to follow through on a promise to devise a complex mechanism that would allow for continued non-dollar trade with the Islamic Republic, which, in effect, would circumvent US economic sanctions re-imposed by President Donald Trump in May of last year after he withdrew Washington from the nuclear pact. President Trump nevertheless reiterated this week a willingness to meet with his counterpart Hassan Rouhani.  In June, the United Nations’ atomic watchdog for the first time since the nuclear agreement was inked did not explicitly state that Iran was in compliance.