Iran: End of sanctions waivers for nuclear facilities has no effect

The United States' decision to end sanctions waivers for companies from Europe, China and Russia working at Iranian nuclear facilities is not going to affect the country's nuclear programme, a nuclear agency spokesman said on Thursday.

"Under the nuclear deal, this decision has no effect in practice and is simply more hype from the Americans," said Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, in remarks reported by ISNA news agency.   

Iran can produce its own nuclear fuel in an emergency, and can also complete its reactors, Kamalvandi said. 

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the end of the sanctions waivers for work at civilian facilities, in a move affecting the Arak reactor and a research reactor in Tehran. Companies will have 60 days to wind down activities, Pompeo said. 

The U.S. will be providing a 90-day extension for the waiver covering activity at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1, where Russia is involved, "to ensure safety of operations," Pompeo said in a statement. These waivers could be modified at any time, he added. 

In 2018, Trump pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and began imposing a "maximum pressure" campaign of strict sanctions on Tehran, over the objections of his European allies.

For the past year, Iran has gradually moved away from its commitments under the deal.

As part of the deal, agreed by the UN Security Council'S five permanent members and Germany, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme so that it could not assemble a nuclear weapon.    (dpa)