Iran on Saturday said it was no longer bound by restrictions to its nuclear programme after the deal it struck with world powers a decade ago officially ended.
From now on, “all of the provisions [of the 2015 deal], including the restrictions on the Iranian nuclear programme and the related mechanisms, are considered terminated”, Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, officially expired on Saturday, although it fell apart years ago and wide-ranging United Nations sanctions were reimposed last month.
The Foreign Ministry statement added that Tehran “firmly expresses its commitment to diplomacy”.
The deal's “termination day” had been set for exactly 10 years after the adoption of resolution 2231, with which the UN Security Council enshrined it.
The agreement between Iran and the US, Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China brought the lifting of international sanctions against Tehran, in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear programme.
The US left the deal in 2018, during President Donald Trump's first term in office, and reinstated sanctions. Iran then began stepping up its nuclear programme.
Talks to revive the agreement failed, and in August, Britain, Germany and France triggered the “snapback” process, leading to the reimposition of UN sanctions.
Iran has protested against the snapback, calling its reinstatement “null and void”. It has long maintained that its nuclear programme serves peaceful purposes only.
Tehran has argued that it had the right to abandon the nuclear deal’s limits because Washington withdrew from the agreement and reimposed its own sanctions.
It has also maintained that there was no legal basis for the Europeans to reimpose UN sanctions, claiming the countries failed to uphold the accord after the US exit.
Iran has now doubled down on these statements, arguing that with the end of the resolution, the sanctions no longer apply.
Although Tehran said it was no longer bound by the restrictions imposed by resolution 2231, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said it would abide by its obligations as a signatory to the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“This includes no limits whatsoever on the scale of its nuclear programme, and co-operation with the IAEA only within the framework” of that agreement, Mr Araghchi said on X.
He stated that the expiration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, terminated “all past UNSC restrictions against Iran … removing Iran from the Security Council's agenda”.
The Foreign Ministry's statement also called on the Security Council to remove the issue of Iran's nuclear programme from its agenda, adding that it “should henceforth be treated like that of any non-nuclear-weapon state party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty”.
Mr Araghchi wrote to UN chief Antonio Guterres with the same demands, Iran's state media reported, including its full text. He wrote that the resolution's expiration meant any US or European attempts to revive or enforce it – or the snapback mechanism – would be invalid.
Iran also accused the UN of aligning with US interests and disregarding the positions of China and Russia – both permanent Security Council members.
Before the reimposition of snapback sanctions in September, China and Russia had signed a joint proposal to the UN to avoid the activation of the mechanism. The proposal was not adopted.
Co-operation between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog suffered a major setback after US and Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities during the 12-day war in June.
