Russia and China react to Iran’s latest nuclear decision

Tabnak – Recent announcement by the Iranian government that the country’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium has exceeded the amount allowed in the nuclear deal, has met with widespread international reactions. Russia and China share the view that Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the deal has been the main cause of the current situation.

Russia says Iran’s surpassing the 300-kilogram limit on its low-enriched uranium production came only as a consequence of the United States’ moves to betray its commitments to the Islamic Republic.

"It should be understood as the natural consequence of the events, which have gone before," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Monday of the development reported by Tehran.

Ryabkov also denounced "unprecedented pressure" from the United States on the Islamic Republic. The Russian official rated exceeding the limit on uranium production as “a cause for regret,” and called on Tehran to behave "responsibly," but warned “one mustn't dramatize the situation."

Meanwhile, China says it considers US President Donald Trump’s trademark policy of “maximum pressure” to be the underlying reason for Iran’s retaliatory decision to reduce more of its commitments under a 2015 multilateral nuclear deal, which Washington abandoned last year.

“We have emphasized on many previous occasions that the US’s maximum pressure is the root cause of the current fraught tensions,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, AFP reported.

Geng added that “China regrets the measures taken by Iran,” but at the same time called on “all parties to view this from a long-term and overall perspective, exercise restraint, and uphold the JCPOA together so that there won’t be further escalation in the tense situation.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday announced that Tehran has exceeded the 300-kilogram limit on its low-enriched uranium production in line with paragraphs 26 and 36 of the nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

It came as part of Tehran’s countermeasures in response to Washington’s departure from the deal last May as well as the failure of the remaining signatories — France, Germany, the UK, Russia and China — to meet their obligations under the agreement.

Tehran initiated its countermeasures in May, the anniversary of Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 accord. It said it was taking the retaliatory measures to prompt the deal’s European partners to stop throwing only verbal support behind the accord, and actually safeguard Iran’s business interests in the face of the sanctions that the US reinstated on Iran following its withdrawal — something that the JCPOA obliges them to do.

Iran says its reactions fit within its rights under paragraphs 26 and 36 of the nuclear deal, and that it will reverse the measures once its demands are met.