Iran will keep violating the JCPOA if the US doesn’t stop sanctions – which they wont
Pickrell, 7/7/19 - a Pentagon correspondent at Business Insider, where he covers domestic and international military and defense news. (Ryan, “Iran announces its second nuclear deal violation in a week as it threatens to enrich weapons-grade uranium”, Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-announces-its-second-nuclear-deal-violation-in-a-week-2019-7)//rkp
That same day, Iran threatened to begin enriching uranium at levels closer to weapons-grade levels by Sunday, July 7 without a new deal or sanctions relief.
Iran's latest actions mean that the country is no longer in compliance with the deal it signed with six countries in 2015, an international accord the US unilaterally withdrew from in 2018. In the wake of the US decision, the Trump administration re-imposed sanctions on Iran, raising tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The White House is targeting Iran with a maximum pressure strategy.
"The Iranian regime took action today to increase its uranium enrichment. It was a mistake under the Iran nuclear deal to allow Iran to enrich uranium at any level," White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement on Monday. "Maximum pressure on the Iranian regime will continue until its leaders alter their course of action. The regime must end its nuclear ambitions and its malign behavior."
Iran's decision to enrich beyond the pre-set purity levels comes at the end of a 60-day deadline Tehran gave the nuclear deal's remaining signatories. Iran has said that it will reduce its commitment to the nuclear deal further every 60 days.
Some observers argue the Iranian government is trying to pressure the remaining signatories, Europe in particular, to protect it from US sanctions. Others, such as Israel's energy minister Yuval Steinitz, say Iran has "begun its march... toward nuclear weaponry."
"Iran's increasing nuclear activities are tit-for-tat responses to US actions, not some all-out drive for a bomb," nuclear weapons expert Jeffrey Lewis said on Twitter Sunday, adding,"Refusing to see the difference between the two is a pretty good way to end up with the latter."
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