US urges world powers to reject Iran's "nuclear extortion"

The United States admonished world powers seeking to preserve a deal with Iran on its atomic programme on Wednesday not to give in to "nuclear extortion" from Tehran, which has breached the pact's limitations in recent days in an attempt to get them to provide economic incentives to offset American sanctions.

The US requested the special board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency after Iran announced last week that it had exceeded the amount of low-enriched uranium it is allowed to stockpile under limitations set in the 2015 nuclear deal.

Since then, it also announced it has started enriching uranium past the 3.67 per cent purity allowed, to 4.5 per cent, and IAEA inspectors verified both developments.

By doing so, Tehran hopes to increase the pressure on the remaining members of the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, to provide economic relief for American sanctions. It has set an early September deadline until it pushes limits further.

Jackie Wolcott, the US ambassador to international organisations in Vienna, told Iran and others in the room that Washington was open to "negotiation without preconditions" on a new nuclear deal, and that "the only path to sanctions relief is through such negotiations, not nuclear extortion."
"We are committed to denying Iran the benefits it seeks from these most recent provocations," she said. "It is imperative that this misbehavior not be rewarded, for if it is, Iran's demands and provocations will only escalate."
US President Donald Trump underscored the comments later, tweeting that the nuclear deal was "terrible" and threatened that "sanctions will soon be increased, substantially!"
Iran maintains it is justified in breaching the limitations because the U.S. already broke the deal with its unilateral withdrawal last year, and Ulyanov said its recent steps "are not a source of enthusiasm, but we treat them with understanding."
In its statement to the IAEA board, the European Union urged Iran to return to compliance but also added it "deeply regrets the US withdrawal and calls on all countries to refrain from taking any actions that impede the implementation of the JCPOA commitments."