Iran vows to cut more obligations under nuke deal

TEHRAN

Iran threatened Monday to take a third phase to reduce its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal if the measures pledged by European parties are not implemented.

"If Europe doesn't take a practical action to remedy its renegade on commitments to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran will implement the third phase of reducing commitments decisively," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in statements cited by the official IRNA news agency.

The threat came after Iran and European partners met in Vienna on Sunday to discuss the nuclear deal.

Mousavi said Sunday's meeting was held upon requests from Iran and European countries.

"Europeans were unhappy with Iran's reducing commitments to the JCPOA; and Iran criticized them for their inaction, as well as following the U.S. lead like arrest of some Iranian citizens and extraditing them to the U.S. at the behest of Washington," he said.

Iran started to cut its commitments under the nuclear deal in a retaliatory move following the U.S. unilateral decision to withdraw from the agreement between Tehran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany and the EU.

The U.S. has since embarked upon a diplomatic and economic campaign to ramp up pressure on Iran to force it to renegotiate the agreement.

The nuclear deal allows Iran to reduce its commitments in case of breaches by other parties. Tehran wants the EU to act more actively regarding the implementation of its part of obligations, saying it will return to the full compliance with the deal once the EU has nullified the U.S. sanctions.