French President Macron asks Iran to respect nuclear obligations

French President Emmanuel Macron held a telephonic conversation with Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on April 6 asking Iran to respect its nuclear obligations. Macron also expressed solidarity with Iranian people as the country has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic with over 60,000 COVID-19 cases.

“He (Macron) hoped that Iran would turn to honour its nuclear obligations, refrains from taking new measures contrary to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and contributes to the easing of regional tensions," Elysee said in a statement.

Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sounded the alarm on Iran’s nuclear programme demanding clarification on failure to provide access to its sites. The UN nuclear watchdog has been overseeing the JCPOA (2015), commonly known as Iran nuclear deal, and issuing quarterly updates to its member states.

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Suspected activities

In December 2019, IAEA Director-General Mariano Grossi had said that the nuclear watchdog will take “firm and fair” approach towards inspection of nuclear facilities in Iran. “An inspector is not a friend. He’s someone who comes and needs to ascertain the facts without bias, without agenda, in an objective and impartial way,” said Grossi.

IAEA is seeking access to sites which has been referred by Israel as the “atomic archive” of information on Iran’s nuclear program. In November 2019, Iran’s nuclear program head Ali Akbar Salehi declared that Tehran had been producing more low-enriched uranium on a daily basis after it restarted an underground lab in Fordow.

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Salehi, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), had said that Iran was producing at least 5.5 kilograms of low-enriched uranium, which is almost 12 times what the country had been producing before the underground lab started. Iran had claimed that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes as it has been facing severe sanctions on the economic front after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the JCPoA

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