Britain, France and Germany launched the process last week, accusing Iran of failing to abide by the terms of the landmark accord curtailing its nuclear program, while Tehran blames the bloc for inaction over US sanctions, according to Financial Tribune.
The three European powers insist they have remained committed to the agreement, which has already been severely undermined by the US exit from it in May 2018 and its reimposition of unilateral sanctions on key sectors of Iran’s economy.
“What the three European countries did regarding Iran’s nuclear issue ... is unfortunate,” Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said on Sunday IRNA.
“We clearly announce that if Europe, for any reason, uses Article 37 of the nuclear agreement unfairly, then Iran will make a serious decision regarding cooperation with the [International Atomic Energy] agency.”
Since May 2019, Iran has incrementally scaled back commitments under the agreement in response to the US sanctions and Europe’s inability to offset the sanctions’ negative impact on Iranian economy.
It has stressed, however, that they will be reversed when Tehran’s interests are assured.
Iran’s latest and final step in January entailed scraping the limit on the number of machines used to enrich uranium.
The 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was struck in Vienna, Austria, by Iran, the three European powers, the United States, China and Russia.
It has a provision that allows a party to claim significant non-compliance by another party before a joint commission.
Articles 36 and 37 of the deal say if the issue is not resolved by the commission, it then goes to an advisory board and eventually to the UN Security Council, which could reimpose sanctions.
The decision to begin the so-called dispute mechanism process comes as tensions soar between the West and Iran following the assassination of top Iranian commander, Qasem Soleimani, in a drone strike near Baghdad airport ordered by US President Donald Trump, which triggered a retaliatory missile attacks by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps on two bases in Iraq housing American troops.
“The issue is not Iran’s behavior. It is America’s threats that have pushed a powerful European country to a humiliating and unjust position,” Larijani stressed.
Germany confirmed last week that the United States had been threatening to impose a 25% tariff on the import of European cars if the bloc continued to back the nuclear deal.