Putin plays with f ire in his new doctrine
Of late Vladimir Putin has shifted Russia’s nuclear doctrine to a more directly and openly retaliatory posture in response to any attack by Ukraine or any NATO country using longer-range US missiles.
The head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi on Wednesday criticised three European countries — Britain, France and Germany — for their recent triggering of the dispute mechanism in the Iran nuclear deal.
The move to trigger the mechanism has been the result of the US pressures and demands, Salehi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
“It proved Europe’s inability and imprudence in the face of the US demands,” he said.
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Last year, Britain, France and Germany warned Iran against any further breaches of the international nuclear deal signed in 2015.
Iran has already taken three separate calibrated steps away from the deal and has warned it will take a fourth in November unless the US lifts economic sanctions.
The UN nuclear watchdog said that Iran was using banned enrichment technology.
If the dispute mechanism is triggered, the entire nuclear agreement could collapse and the UN could reinstate sanctions on Iran, which would be applied by all UN member states.
Last week, the three European countries announced they had taken steps to trigger the dispute mechanism with Iran in response to Tehran’s back-off from the nuclear commitments over the past months, Xinhua news agency reported.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the Islamic republic would leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty “in case the Europeans try to take another measure.”
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