Germany, the United Kingdom and France on Thursday urged Iran to "cease its nuclear escalation" and "urgently conclude the deal currently on the table" to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement.

"There has been a viable deal on the table since March," they said in a joint statement.

"We regret that Iran has not seized the diplomatic opportunity to conclude the deal. We urge it to do so now."

Formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 deal gave Iran relief from crippling economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear activities.

But in 2018 then US president Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the pact and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to begin rolling back on its own commitments.

Talks to revive the deal began in April last year, but have stalled since March.

The UN atomic energy watchdog earlier Thursday said Iran was removing 27 surveillance cameras at its nuclear facilities, warning this could be a "fatal blow" to the negotiations.

"These actions only aggravate the situation and complicate our efforts to restore full implementation of the JCPOA," the joint statement said.

"We urge Iran to... cease its nuclear escalation, and urgently conclude the deal currently on the table to restore the JCPOA, while this is still possible."

Blinken warns Iran actions risk deepening nuclear crisis, isolation
Washington (AFP) June 9, 2022 - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that Iran is risking greater isolation and heightened tensions after the country removed cameras meant to monitor its nuclear program.

Iran's actions threatened the possible restoration of the 2015 six-party nuclear deal, Blinken said in a statement.

"The only outcome of such a path will be a deepening nuclear crisis and further economic and political isolation for Iran," he said.

Earlier Thursday the International Atomic Energy Agency said the removal of 27 surveillance cameras used by the UN nuclear watchdog to monitor Tehran's activities could deal a "fatal blow" to negotiations to revive a landmark deal.

The original agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

It was unilaterally abrogated in 2018 by the US administration of Donald Trump, and Iran has slowly resumed activities that have violated its commitments to the deal.

Since coming to office in January 2021, President Joe Biden has sought to revive the agreement, by offering to lift sanctions on the country in exchange for Tehran agreeing to limitations and monitoring of its nuclear development program.

Rather than address the IAEA's concerns, Blinken said, Iran's response was instead "to threaten further nuclear provocations and further reductions of transparency. "

"Such steps would be counterproductive and would further complicate our efforts to return to full implementation of the JCPOA," he said.

Blinken stressed that the basis to revive the JPCOA has been on the table since March, but said Iran was holding it up with "additional demands that are extraneous" to the agreement.

One Iranian demand holding up a deal has been that the United States removes its official terrorist group designation from the country's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The Biden administration has rejected that demand, saying the issue is unconnected to the JPCOA.

Iran's nuclear saga: from 2015 accord to fresh IAEA censure
Tehran (AFP) June 9, 2022 - Here are the main developments in Iran's nuclear programme since 2015, when Tehran, which the West suspected of trying to build an atomic bomb, agreed to limit its uranium enrichment activities.

- Historic accord -

In 2013, newly elected Iranian president Hassan Rouhani says he is ready for "serious" negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme, following an eight-year stalemate under ultraconservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Rouhani secures support from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for efforts to break the deadlock.

On July 14, 2015, Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council --Britain, China, France, Russia and the US -- plus Germany reach a historic accord in Vienna.

The deal places significant restrictions on Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief after 12 years of crisis and 21 months of protracted negotiations. It comes into force on January 16, 2016.

Under the accord, Tehran's nuclear programme is placed under strict UN control subject to guarantees it is not trying to make an atom bomb, something Iran has always denied.

- Trump pulls out -

US president Donald Trump walks away from the deal on May 8, 2018.

"We cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement," he says.

Deal critics had complained from the start about the time limits applied to the deal.

Later in 2018, Washington begins reimposing sanctions on Iran and companies with ties to it, hitting the central bank and the country's vital oil sector.

Major international firms halt activities in the country.

- Iran walks back -

In May 2019, Iran starts rolling back on its deal commitments in retaliation.

Trump hits back by sanctioning Iran's steel and mining sectors.

Tehran increases its stockpile of enriched uranium in excess of the limits laid down in the deal.

It announces in early 2020 it is foregoing a limit on its number of uranium-enriching centrifuges.

In 2021, Iran says it has started enriching uranium to up to 60 percent -- many times the limit of 3.67 percent imposed by the deal -- which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says could be sufficient to create a compact nuclear explosive.

- Vienna talks -

In April 2021, with President Joe Biden now in the White House, talks on rescuing the accord start in Vienna.

Iran's new ultraconservative president, Ebrahim Raisi, says in August he is open to negotiations but will not be pressured by sanctions.

Talks resume in November.

- Compromise 'close' -

Just as a deal looks imminent, Russia invades Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and Moscow becomes the target of international sanctions.

The Iran nuclear negotiations are halted as Russia seeks guarantees from Washington that the measures targeting its economy will not affect its cooperation with Iran.

In mid-March, Washington says a compromise is "close", but Tehran raises some "red line" issues, including its bid to have all sanctions lifted.

- New US sanctions -

On March 30, Washington sanctions suppliers to Tehran's ballistic missiles programme, which Iran dubs "another sign of the US government's malice" towards the Islamic republic.

On May 13, the EU announces progress in talks to revive the nuclear deal but days later US chief negotiator Rob Malley says the chances of success are slimmer than that of failure.

- Nuclear watchdog raps Iran -

On June 8, the IAEA adopts a resolution submitted by the Britain, France, Germany and the US that condemns Iran for the first time in two years.

The resolution, which China and Russia reject and which Tehran slams as "political", comes after the IAEA raises concerns about traces of enriched uranium found at three sites Iran had not declared as having nuclear activities.

Related Links
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Iran removal of monitoring cameras may scupper nuclear talks: IAEA
Vienna (AFP) June 9, 2022
The UN atomic energy watchdog said Thursday that Iran was removing 27 surveillance cameras at its nuclear facilities, warning this could be a "fatal blow" to negotiations to revive a 2015 nuclear deal. Talks began in April last year to bring the United States back into that landmark agreement, after then president Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 and left it hanging by a thread. The negotiations also aim to lift sanctions against Iran and bring it back into compliance with nuclear commitments it ... read more