Iran wants ‘action not words’ from parties to N-deal

TEHRAN: Iran wants to see “action not words” from parties to the country’s 2015 nuclear deal, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, as US President Joe Biden’s administration hopes to revive the accord.

“We have heard many nice words and promises which in practice have been broken and opposite actions have been taken. Words and promises are no good. This time (we want) only action from the other side and we will also act,” Khamenei said in a televised speech.

Biden has said Washington will return to the nuclear pact abandoned by his predecessor Donald Trump in 2018 if Tehran first resumes full compliance. But with mutual mistrust running deep, Tehran says Washington must act first.

Under the deal, sanctions were lited in return for Iran agreeing curbs to its nuclear programme.

Since Trump ditched the deal and reimposed sanctions, Tehran has gradually breached the deal’s terms.

Tehran says its nuclear steps are reversible if Washington lits the sanctions.

Iran has accelerated its breaches of its 2015 nuclear deal with major powers in recent months, partly as demanded by a law passed in response to the killing in November of its top nuclear scientist, which Tehran has blamed on its foe Israel.

The breaches began in 2019 in response to a US withdrawal from the deal under then-president Donald Trump, and Iran is now locked in a standoff with President Joe Biden’s administration over who should move first to save the accord.

“Iran informed the IAEA on 15 February that the country will stop implementing voluntary transparency measures under the JCPOA as of 23 February, including the Additional Protocol,” an International Atomic Energy Agency statement said. JCPOA stands for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the deal’s official name.

Under the deal, Iran is applying the Additional Protocol, which grants the IAEA the power to carry out short-notice inspections at locations not declared to it.

It is in addition to core obligations under a country’s so-called Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA. Iran has signed but not ratified it.