World concerned over Iran enrichment

TEHERAN - The international community called for a peaceful solution after Iran announced on Sunday it would raise its uranium enrichment level.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a news conference that Teheran is ramping up the level of uranium enrichment beyond the 3.67 percent level permitted under the 2015 nuclear deal signed with China, Britain, France, Germany, the European Union and the United States.

Global leaders expressed their worries about Iran's new move, which further violated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, which curbed Iran's nuclear program in return for sanctions relief, and urged a peaceful settlement.

US President Donald Trump warned Teheran on Sunday that "Iran better be careful". He didn't elaborate on what actions the US might consider, but he told reporters: "Iran's doing a lot of bad things."

The United States unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA last year and reimposed sanctions against Iran.

China on Monday expressed regrets over Iran exceeding the uranium enrichment limit, reiterating that the issue needed to be resolved politically and diplomatically through equal dialogue.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China called on all sides involved to exercise restraint and create conditions to continue safeguarding and implementing the nuclear deal.

The US maximum pressure is the root cause of the Iran nuclear issue, Geng said. He noted that the US has not only unilaterally withdrawn from the agreement, but also through unilateral sanctions and "long arm jurisdiction", Washington is setting more bars for Iran and other sides to fulfill obligations under the deal.

It has been proved that unilateral bullying has become a "worsening tumor", which is leading to bigger global crisis, he said.

Leonid Slutski, head of the foreign relations committee under the Russian State Duma (the lower chamber of parliament), said on Sunday that Iran's decision was "a result of the US provocative move".

"Under the condition that the US is putting too much pressure on Iran, still the country will remain a big player and the regional peace and stability is dependent on its policies," he said, according to the report of Islamic Republic News Agency.

The British Foreign Office also issued a warning on Sunday, saying: "While the UK remains fully committed to the deal, Iran must immediately stop and reverse all activities inconsistent with its obligations."

French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll urged Iran to stop all activities that are not consistent with its JCPOA commitments, and said Paris is "in close contact with the concerned partners to initiate the necessary de-escalation of tensions" in a news release.

As Germany got "extremely worried about Iran's announcement", the country urged "Iran to discontinue and reverse any steps that are inconsistent with Iran's commitments under the JCPOA", said a spokesperson of the German Foreign Ministry.

The European Union remains "extremely concerned" about Iran's decision to step up enrichment and is in contact with other parties to the accord to discuss next steps, "including a joint commission", EU Spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said on Sunday.

While European leaders were still mulling next plans and discussing a possible emergency meeting after the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a vocal opponent of the 2015 nuclear deal, urged them to reimpose sanctions on Iran, accusing it of enriching uranium to "build nuclear weapons".

Zhou Jin and Liu Xuan in Beijing contributed to this story.

Xinhua - China Daily - AP