Iran to take new steps to reduce commitment to nuclear deal on July 7

Iran will take new steps to reduce its commitments under its nuclear deal with world powers on July 7, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said on Tuesday, according to the Fars news agency.

Shamkhani said European signatories to the nuclear deal had not done enough to save it. The 2015 deal requires Iran to curb its nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions.

The United States withdrew from the deal last year and reimposed sanctions. Iran says it intends to continue complying with it but cannot do so indefinitely unless European countries find ways to protect it from US sanctions.

France: Serious mistake

France’s foreign minister warned Iran that a violation of the 2015 deal would be a serious mistake and that France, Britain, and Germany were working to ensure Tehran understood it was not in their interest to do so.

“An Iranian violation would be a serious mistake and a bad response to the pressure exerted by the United States,” Jean-Yves Le Drian told lawmakers.

He added that France, Germany, and Britain were totally mobilized to tell Iran that it was not in its interest to break its nuclear commitments and that the Europeans were working together to de-escalate the situation.