"The philosophy of the initial JCPOA agreement can be
used as a basis, but the agreement itself is no longer necessary," Grossi
remarked during his visit to Italy for discussions with the Foreign
Ministry.
The UN
nuclear chief pointed out that Iran is now enriching uranium to levels of 60%,
a threshold that he said brings the country close to the capability to produce
military-grade uranium, which requires enrichment to 90%. "Iran is rapidly
approaching the status of a nuclear state," he claimed.
Grossi omitted any mention of the West's abandonment of the
deal, the factor that prompted Iran to curtail some of its JCPOA commitments in
the first place.
The JCPOA was signed in 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 group
of countries (the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China).
It aimed to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the termination of
sanctions.
Washington
unilaterally withdrew from the pact in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions against
Iran. European signatories to the deal not only failed to take the sting out of
US sanctions but also came up with anti-Iran bans of their own.
Tehran began to scale back on some of its JCPOA commitments
in 2020, under a new law passed by the Iranian parliament.
