The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has detected no new violations of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) by Iran since the Islamic Republic’s fifth stage of reducing its nuclear commitments under the deal, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said, TASS reports.
"After the fifth step, there hasn't been any follow-up," he told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, but admitted that "of course they continue to enrich."
"I keep my eyes on what’s going on Iran," the IAEA chief continued. "We obviously do not carry out our inspection activities mechanistically, so we listen to what is being said and we prepare ourselves for every possible circumstance."
On January 5, Iran announced its steps for the fifth phase of reducing its obligations under JCPOA, signed in 2015. The fifth step of Tehran implies that it will not meet restrictions set by JCPOA on the number of centrifuges for uranium enrichment.
On January 14, the UK, Germany and France announced the launch of a dispute resolution mechanism within the JCPOA claiming that Iran fails to adhere to its obligations under the deal. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Monday that European nations have not yet triggered the mechanism.
The future of the Iranian nuclear deal was called into question after the United States’ unilateral pullout on May 8, 2018 and Washington’s unilateral oil export sanctions against Tehran. Iran argues that all other participants, Europeans in the first place, ignore some of their own obligations in the economic sphere, thus making the deal in its current shape meaningless. Due to this, Iran began the process of stage-by-stage suspension of its commitments under the deal.
