Teheran refuses to renegotiate the nuclear agreement and to accept more states to the deal.


A new-old burning problem for the security of the international community may arise on the horizon. Iran categorically opposes changes in the Nuclear Deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed with five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and the European Union in January 2016.

It is a multilateral international agreement and has been ratified by UN Security Council resolution 2.231, said Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mr. Said Khatibsadeh, according to state media. It is non-negotiable and its partners are clear and unchangeable, he stated. He was apparently responding to French President Emmanuel Macron, who suggested that new talks on the agreement should also include Saudi Arabia.

One must avoid the 2015 mistake of excluding other countries in the region, the state-run Saudi Arabian television broadcaster Al-Arabiya President Macron had quoted on Friday. Mr. Chatibsadeh said that Mr. Macron had to exercise self-control.

Iran, which sees itself as the protective power of the Shiites, and the Sunni Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a close ally of the USA, have been fighting for supremacy in the region for decades. In Yemen, the countries are waging a proxy war. Saudi Arabia and its ally United Arab Emirates are calling for the Gulf States to be included in future nuclear negotiations. Iran's ballistic missiles and its support for proxies in the region should be also discussed.



The Deal Adds One Year Before Iran Could Resume Its Nuclear Bomb Construction

In the 2015 agreement the parties emphasised that it would extend the time Iran would need to build an atomic bomb from two to three months to one year. To this end, the amount of low-enriched uranium and the degree of enrichment have been limited. At the same time, Iran committed itself to international control of its nuclear facilities. In return, sanctions against the country were relaxed.

The deal has been in jeopardy since President Donald J. Trump withdrew the United States from it in 2018.

Israel has criticised the deal emphasising that it only slows down when Iran will restart its nuclear arms build-up, but it does not eliminate this problem.

In 2018, under the former President Donald Trump, the United States unilaterally terminated the agreement and again imposed punitive measures. Iran responded a year later by gradually exceeding the enrichment limits. A few days ago Iranian President Hassan Ruhani called on the new US President Joe Biden to return to the agreement.