Iran may alter cooperation level with IAEA: Rouhani

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has one again stressed that his country may leave the 2015 nuclear deal if the remaining parties to the agreement fail to secure Tehran’s rights.

Rouhani made the remarks on Wednesday during a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano in Vienna.

“Iran’s nuclear activities have always been peaceful, but it is Tehran that decides on the level of its cooperation with the IAEA,” he said.

“The responsibility for a change in the situation and the level of Iran’s cooperation with the agency falls on those who have created the new status quo,” he added.

Earlier in the day, the Iranian president slammed as illegal the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, saying Washington’s move benefits no one.

Foreign ministers from China, France, Germany, Britain and Russia will meet with Iranian officials on Friday in Vienna to discuss how to keep the JCPOA alive after the US exit from the pact, Reuters reported.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini confirmed the meeting in a statement on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the nuclear agreement, which was reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – plus Germany.

Trump also said he would reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose “the highest level” of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.

Since the US president pulled Washington out of the historic nuclear deal, European countries have been scrambling to ensure that Iran gets enough economic benefits to persuade it to stay in the deal.

The remaining parties have vowed to stay in the accord.