Iran announces further step away from nuclear deal

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday announced steps to further roll back its nuclear commitment and to begin injecting uranium gas into more than 1,000 centrifuges at its Fordow enrichment facility in Qom province.

In a statement carried out by local media Rouhani said that the step was "reversible" and urged the 2015 nuclear deal signatories to offset the effects of US sanctions on Iran's economy, Washington Post reported.

This comes a day after Iranian government spokesperson Ali Rabiei had stated that Rouhani will announce steps to reduce the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) commitments within two days.

JCPOA was signed with an aim to limit Tehran's civilian energy programme, thereby preventing it from developing nuclear weapons at some point in the future, in exchange for relief from sanctions that were crippling the country's economy

Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi has condemned the fresh US sanctions against nine people connected to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the 40th anniversary of the US embassy seizure.

"The United States regime's addiction to unilateral sanctions has put its authorities in a passive situation that makes them resort to such empty sanctions in a bid to alleviate their pains and depression that has been caused by their inaction towards the iron-like will of the Iranian nation," said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Abbas Mousavi, as quoted by IRNA.

JCPOA is also referred to as the US-Iran Nuclear Deal, which was clinched in 2015 by Iran, USA, Russia, France, China, UK, Germany, and the European Union.

It may be noted that Britain and Iran, along with Germany, Russia, France, the European Union, and China are the remaining signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal. The Trump-led US government withdrew from the deal last year, terming it as defective at its core.