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Washington has unleashed a fresh barrage of threats against Tehran, with US President Donald Trump warning it against "playing with fire" and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo branding it a "top sponsor of terrorism."

Fresh from rekindling his strange bromance with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Trump has returned to his war-mongering ways, leveling a vague new warning at Iran. Asked whether he had a message for Iran after its stockpiles of enriched uranium exceeded the 300kg cap set out in the 2015 nuclear deal, Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that he had "no message whatsoever" but added that Iran knew it was "playing with fire."

Trump also warned Iran that he still hadn't forgiven it for taking out a US drone that was shot down over the Strait of Hormuz last month. Framing his last-minute decision not to strike Iranian targets in retaliation for the downing of the unmanned surveillance craft as "a great presidential moment" in an interview with Fox News, he claimed the change of heart had earned him "great capital" and given him license to "do far worse, if something should happen" in the future. "But hopefully we don't have to do anything," he added, claiming that while both countries "want to have peace," the US "can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon."

Earlier the same day, Pompeo responded to the news of Iran going beyond the stockpile limit set by the deal that the US effectively dismantled, accusing Tehran of "using its nuclear program to extort the international community and threaten regional security." Continuing his tirade, the top US diplomat said Iran "can never be allowed to enrich uranium at any level," calling the Islamic Republic "the world's top sponsor of terrorism."

And that sums up US policy towards Iran; Iran can't win. Even when it adheres to the agreed upon terms the US will just change them on a whim because the existance of the US is based upon demonizing somebody, lest the people look to the US as the cause much of the strife on our planet.

The US attracted international condemnation for pulling out of the universally acclaimed nuclear accord last May. However, despite being blamed for all but killing the deal and not sticking to its terms itself, Washington has bashed Iran for not abiding by its conditions, even when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) repeatedly found it to be in compliance.

In spite of Washington's 2018 withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the administration of US President Donald Trump has accused Iran of violating the terms of the treaty. The Iranian foreign minister tweeted that the White House is wrong and backed up his assertions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday tweeted that, contrary to a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee statement, Iran has never violated the terms of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal.

"We have NOT violated the #JCPOA," Tehran's foreign minister tweeted. "We triggered & exhausted [paragraph] 36 [of JCPOA] after US withdrawal. We gave E3+2 a few weeks while reserving our right. We finally took action after 60 weeks. As soon as E3 abide[s] by their obligations, we'll reverse."

​Zarif's tweet was accompanied by screenshots of the text of the JCPOA treaty, in particular, Paragraph 36, which details how signatories can resolve issues.

According to the treaty text, Iran has the right to complain to the Joint Commission or the Ministers of Foreign Affairs about EU signatories not meeting their commitments under the deal, after which 15 days are allotted to resolve the issue. If no resolution is found, Iran can delegate the issue to an appointed Advisory Board, which then has an additional 15 days to identify a resolution.

"If the issue still has not been resolved to the satisfaction of the complaining participant, [...], then that participant could treat the unresolved issue as grounds to cease performing its commitments under this JCPOA in whole or in part," according to the document.

Earlier this year, Iran rolled out an ultimatum to the EU JCPOA signatories that the nation would begin enriching uranium past the limits outlined in the deal unless the EU provides Tehran with an effective mechanism of trade to bypass US sanctions.

Following a meeting with European, Chinese and Russian representatives in Vienna on 28 June, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called EU efforts to create a viable trading mechanism "one step forward," but added that Tehran is not satisfied with what has so far been done.

"It is still not meeting Iran's expectations," he said. "I don't think that the progress we made today would be considered enough to stop our process but the decision is not mine."

Zarif tweeted an Annex II screenshot, which notes that lifting sanctions under the deal will enable a number of economic and financial processes, including money transfers, shipping and ship-building, and oil and gas trade, among other issues.

After the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018, Washington reimposed sanctions targeting "critical sectors of Iran's economy, such as the energy, shipping and shipbuilding, and financial sectors," according to the US Department of Treasury.

In another tweeted screenshot of a statement from the JCPOA Joint Commission, a sentence is highlighted which says that lifting sanctions in exchange for Iran's nuclear-related commitments constitutes an essential part of the deal.

On Monday, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a statement accusing Iran of being in violation of the deal, after media reports said Iran exceeded enriched uranium stockpile limits set by the treaty.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action has been signed in 2015 by Iran, the US, the EU, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China.

[...]

Here is some fakenews from the Guardian which falsely claims that Iran breaks the nuclear deal.

Iran today announced that its stockpile of low enriched uranium now exceeds the 300 kilogram of enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6) level set out as a limit in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (pdf).

But Iran does that within the frame of the JCPOA. It is not breaching it. Article 26 of the joint plan states that the U.S. will refrain from reimposing sanctions and that Iran will react in case that happens:

The United States will make best efforts in good faith to sustain this JCPOA and to prevent interference with the realisation of the full benefit by Iran of the sanctions lifting specified in Annex II. The U.S. Administration, acting consistent with the respective roles of the President and the Congress, will refrain from re-introducing or re-imposing the sanctions specified in Annex II that it has ceased applying under this JCPOA, without prejudice to the dispute resolution process provided for under this JCPOA. The U.S. Administration, acting consistent with the respective roles of the President and the Congress, will refrain from imposing new nuclear-related sanctions. Iran has stated that it will treat such a re-introduction or re-imposition of the sanctions specified in Annex II, or such an imposition of new nuclear-related sanctions, as grounds to cease performing its commitments under this JCPOA in whole or in part.

On May 8 2018 the United States broke the JCPOA when it reimposed sanctions on Iran. Iran can not "break" a deal that the U.S. already broke.

Additionally on May 3 2019 the State Department removed sanction waivers that allowed Iran to export low enriched uranium in exchange for natural uranium: [...]

This step by the Trump administration was obviously designed to bring Iran into a situation where it would have to either stop enrichment, or accumulate a stockpile larger than the 300 kilogram foreseen in the JCPOA.

Iran can no longer export low enriched Uranium. Iran does not want to give up its "inalienable right" to enrich uranium guaranteed under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Iran thus began to accumulate enriched uranium under the above clause of the JCPOA.

On June 17 Iran announced that it would exceed the stockpile limit by June 27. It took a few days longer but it now happened.

The JCPOA clearly states that Iran would take this step if and when the U.S. breaches the agreement by imposing new sanctions. That Iran is now exceeding one of the limits JCPOA sets out is not in breach of the agreement but in adherence to its letters.

A 'diplomatic editor' who does not understand that should seek a different profession.

Update 3:00PM EDT

[...]

When the U.S. left the agreement Iran used the Dispute Resolution Mechanism in paragraph 36 of the JCPOA. That paragraph calls for a joint commission to decide on the issue. The commission met in Brussels in July 2018 and promised to further support the deal.

The 6 July 2018 Statement from the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in which the EU-3 committed themselves to uphold their side of the deal despite the U.S. breach said:

6.​The participants recognised that, in return for the implementation by Iran of its nuclear-related commitments, the lifting of sanctions, including the economic dividends arising from it, constitutes an essential part of the JCPOA.
...
8.​The participants affirmed their commitment regarding the following objectives in good faith and in a constructive atmosphere:

- the maintenance and promotion of wider economic and sectoral relations with Iran;
- the preservation and maintenance of effective financial channels with Iran;
- the continuation of Iran's export of oil and gas condensate, petroleum products and petrochemicals;
...

The EU-3 did not fulfill those commitments.

The Dispute Resolution Mechanism in paragraph 36 of the JCPOA states:

If the issue still has not been resolved [by the joint commission] to the satisfaction of the complaining participant, and if the complaining participant deems the issue to constitute significant non-performance, then that participant could treat the unresolved issue as grounds to cease performing its commitments under this JCPOA in whole or in part and/or notify the UN Security Council that it believes the issue constitutes significant non-performance.

This legal argument is even stronger than the argument under paragraph 26 discussed above.

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