Iran Issues Ultimatum: Stop Examining ‘Military Dimensions’ of Nuclear Program or Deal Is Off
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by David Daoud
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi. Photo: Twitter.
Iran gave the international community an ultimatum on Thursday, its semi-official Fars News Agency reported.
The ultimatum — either stop focusing on the Possible Military Dimension (PMD) of Iran’s nuclear program or forget about implementing the nuclear deal — was spelled out by Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi, a chief negotiator with the P5+1, in a televised interview.
The P5+1 countries and International Atomic Energy Agency are “well aware that they have to choose between [continuing to investigate] the PMD [case] and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),” Aragchi said.
“If the PMD [case] is not closed, and even if there remains a chance of return of the PMD, it would mean that the JCPOA will not move ahead,” he said, and Iran, “will not fulfill its remaining commitments under the JCPOA.”
Aragchi was echoing remarks made last week by Reza Najafi, Iran’s Ambassador to the IAEA, who said that Iran’s implementation of the JCPOA was conditional upon the closing of the PMD case.
