Iran's parliamentary speaker on Sunday warned of unspecified “repercussions” for the UN's nuclear watchdog if European nations that launched a dispute mechanism against Iran act "unfairly", AFP reports.
The comments by Ali Larijani come after Britain, France and Germany last week triggered the dispute mechanism in the 2015 nuclear deal that could eventually lead to reimposing UN sanctions on Iran, a move which came in response to Iran’s repeated violations of the agreement.
The three countries insisted, however, they remained committed to the agreement.
"What the three European countries did regarding Iran's nuclear issue... is unfortunate," Larijani was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.
"We clearly announce that if Europe, for any reason, uses Article 37 of the nuclear agreement unfairly, then Iran will make a serious decision regarding cooperation with the agency," he said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
In response, Iran gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 deal, before announcing earlier this month that it will abandon the deal amid heightened tensions with the United States over the killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
The 2015 nuclear deal -- known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- was struck in Vienna by Iran, the EU three, the United States, China and Russia.
It has a provision that allows a party to claim significant non-compliance by another party before a joint commission.
Articles 36 and 37 of the deal say if the issue is not resolved by the commission, it then goes to an advisory board and eventually to the UN Security Council, which could reimpose sanctions.
"The issue is not Iran's behavior. It is America's threats that have pushed a powerful European country to a humiliating and unjust" position, Larijani insisted on Sunday.
On the weekend, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif ruled out the possibility of any negotiation on a new nuclear deal as the US has demanded.
