Tehran, Jan 6 (AFP/APP): Iran announced a further rollback of its commitments to the troubled international nuclear accord Sunday amid anger over the US killing of a top commander which also prompted Iraq’s parliament to demand the departure of American troops.
While vast crowds gathered in Iran’s second city of Mashhad as Qasem Soleimani’s remains were returned home, the Tehran government said it would forego the “limit on the number of centrifuges” it had pledged to honour in the 2015 agreement which was already in deep trouble.
The announcement was yet another sign of the fallout from Friday’s killing of Soleimani in Baghdad in a drone strike ordered by President Donald Trump, which has inflamed US-Iraqi relations and among the rival camps in Washington.
Iran’s 2015 nuclear accord with the United Nations Security Council’s five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany has been hanging by a thread since the US withdrew unilaterally from it two years ago.
European countries have been pushing for talks with Iran to salvage the deal, inviting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif to Brussels for talks, but the prospect of progress seemed remote after the government’s statement on Sunday night.
“Iran’s nuclear programme no longer faces any limitation in the operational field”, said the statement.
US deploys troops, Iran vows ‘revenge’ after Soleimani death
