Britain, France and Germany accused Iran on Monday of developing and testing ballistic missiles, transferring hundreds of drones to Russia and enriching uranium in violation of UN resolutions.
Iran and its ally Russia rejected the accusations made by the three European countries, which received support from the United States. Washington in 2018 withdrew from an agreement signed three years earlier, which aimed to ensure that Tehran could not develop nuclear weapons.
Under the terms of the deal, Iran promised to limit uranium enrichment to only the levels needed for use in nuclear power plants in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
The accusations were made during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the implementation of a resolution supporting the 2015 nuclear deal.
Both Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Iravani, and Russia’s ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, have blamed the United States’ withdrawal from the deal, Western sanctions and an “anti-Iran” attitude for the current standoff.
Iravani said Iran is authorized to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Nebenzia dismissed alleged evidence that Russia is using Iranian Shahed drones in Ukraine.
Following the US withdrawal from the deal, a decision by then-President Donald Trump, Iran increased uranium enrichment levels to 60%, close to the level needed to equip nuclear weapons, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
At Monday’s meeting, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs emphasized that the organization’s Secretary-General, António Guterres, still considers the agreement “the best available option to ensure that the nuclear program of Iran remains exclusively peaceful.”
Rosemary DiCarlo urged Iran to change course, as did the three European countries who issued a joint statement citing the IAEA and saying that Iran’s enriched uranium reserves are 22 times higher than the limit set in the agreement. 2015 was set.
“There is no credible civilian justification for the state of affairs regarding Iran’s nuclear programme,” Britain, France and Germany said. “The current trajectory only brings Iran closer to weapons-related capabilities,” she added.
Iran is subject to a host of sanctions imposed by several governments and international organizations, which accuse the country of supporting terrorism and attacking US ships in the Persian Gulf.
Source: DN
