French Defense Minister Florence Parly told BFM TV on Wednesday that nothing would be worse than Iran withdrawing from the deal, adding that France, Britain and Germany were doing all they could to keep the accord alive. However, she warned that if Tehran does not uphold its part of the deal, it could result in sanctions.

Germany said it regrets the statements made by Iran and urged Tehran not to take any aggressive steps. A Foreign Ministry spokesman added that Berlin is keen to keep the nuclear deal and intends to abide by its commitments, as long as Iran does the same.

Speaking on behalf of the British government, UK junior foreign minister Mark Field warned that there would be consequences if Iran stopped meeting its commitments under the nuclear deal.

He added that the UK remains committed to working on sanctions relief, and called on both Russia and China to pursue this goal as "diplomacy continues." Field said the British government believes the deal is broadly working towards keeping Iran's nuclear program peaceful, and that he hopes to visit the country in the near future.

Meanwhile, Theresa May's spokesman said the prime minister is extremely concerned about Iran's decision, and urges Tehran not to take any escalatory steps. While British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt called the announcement an "unwelcome step".

China also responded to the news on Wednesday, with their Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang saying that the agreement should be fully implemented and that all sides have a responsibility to ensure this happens.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian President Rouhani announced on national television that a gradual scale-down of the country's commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal would begin in 60 days, starting with a refusal to dispose of excessive heavy water and enriched uranium. Rouhani also said the move was a reciprocal response to the US' withdrawal from the agreement.

The deal with Iran was signed by the EU and other world leaders to offer Tehran relief from sanctions in exchange for voluntary restrictions of its nuclear industry. Last year, the US broke its commitments under the deal, restored and extended sanctions, and attempted to prevent countries around the world from buying Iran's oil.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that Israel will make every effort to prevent the development of nuclear weapons by Iran amid the news that the latter may pull out of some of its commitments under the nuclear deal.

"This morning, on my way here, I heard that Iran intends to pursue its nuclear programme. We will not allow Iran to achieve nuclear weaponry. We will continue to fight those who would kill us", he said.

Israel has long criticized Iran over its nuclear operations, with Netanyahu openly opposing the international deal and previously accusing Europe of appeasing Iran on the issue - evocative language that harks back to European nations' initial failure to confront Nazi Germany.

During a 2018 speech at the United Nations, Netanyahu presented what he considered proof that Iran still sought to obtain nuclear weapons, despite the 2015 agreement. The presentation consisted of an aerial photograph of the Iranian capital, marked with a red arrow pointing to what the Israeli leader said was once a secret warehouse holding nuclear-related material that had since been moved. Iran responded to the presentation by calling it an "arts and crafts show."

© Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the General Assembly at the United Nations in New York September 27, 2018.

Democrats and Deep State dirty cops have claimed for months that there was no spying on the Trump campaign. Now we know without a doubt that there was not only spying, but the dirty cops in the Deep State attempted to entrap Trump team members through this spying. We also know without a doubt that Obama was in on it. ...

For starters we know that Obama spied on numerous people for years while he was President. Obama took the US Intelligence community and corrupted it. He used the US intelligence apparatus to spy on anyone and everyone and especially his enemies. We put a list of the many individuals and entities Obama spied on that we know of here.

We also know that Hillary's long lost emails were found in the White House. This was reported by Judicial Watch in April 2019 -

Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch announced that Bill Priestap, former Assistant Director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division admitted, in writing and under oath, that the FBI found Hillary Clinton's emails in the Obama White House - specifically the Executive Office of the President! The FBI also admitted that almost 49,000 Hillary Clinton emails were reviewed as a result of a search warrant for emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop.

We know that Susan Rice, Obama's former National Security Advisor, left an email on the last day that she and Obama were in office that confirms Obama was in on it. Senators Grassley and Graham sent a letter to Rice asking about this email -

"Ambassador Rice appears to have used this email to document a January 5, 2017 Oval Office meeting between President Obama, former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates regarding Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election. In particular, Ambassador Rice wrote:

"President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities 'by the book'. The President stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective. He reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book."

Rice and Obama must have felt guilty about their crimes because they sent this email in an attempt to cover up their illegal actions. Unfortunately, nobody is buying it. We also know that Obama, in essence, told incoming President-elect Trump in the Oval office that he was involved in the Deep State coup. Obama did this inadvertently by advising Trump not to hire General Michael Flynn. ... Obama had to know about the coup in order to make this recommendation to Trump months earlier but the media only thought about using this to discredit both Trump and Flynn. Now its coming back to haunt Obama.

In March 2019 Deep State coup participant James Clapper said to CNN's Anderson Cooper:

"If it weren't for President Obama, we might not have done the intelligence community assessment that we did that set off a whole sequence of events which are still unfolding today, notably, special counsel Mueller's investigation. President Obama is responsible for that, and it was he who tasked us to do that intelligence community assessment in the first place..."

Finally, if Clapper hasn't said enough, former US Attorney Joe DiGenova was on the radio yesterday and he said point blank says that Obama knew about it all - Obama was in on it. It was a sham. The Mueller investigation was a sham. Obama spied on the opposition party.

DiGenova's interview is pertinent, factual and spot on.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders: "Faced with Chairman Nadler's blatant abuse of power, and at the attorney general's request, the president has no other option than to make a protective assertion of executive privilege."

The Justice Department warned Nadler on Tuesday that if he moves forward on the vote, a request will be made to President Donald Trump to do just that.

In a letter to Nadler Tuesday evening, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said the panel's demand was "unreasonable" and urged a delay in the vote, according to NBC News. "If the committee decides to proceed in spite of this request, however, the Attorney General will advise the President to make a protective assertion of executive privilege," Boyd wrote in the letter.

With the Judiciary Committee voting 22-12 to hold Barr in contempt, it will have to go to a full vote in the Democrat-controlled House.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi was noncommittal on whether she would proceed with a vote to hold Barr in contempt.

"Let's hope that they can make their own accommodations before that," the speaker said Tuesday night while speaking to reporters off the House floor, a reference to the Trump administration.

But Pelosi said at a Washington Post event that she believes Barr should be held in contempt, according to The Hill.

Trump charged in a tweet prior to the vote that Democrats are the ones obstructing justice by targeting Barr, who is now investigating the circumstances that resulted in Mueller's Russian collusion probe.

"'The real "Obstruction of Justice" is what the Democrats are trying to do to this Attorney General,'" Trump tweeted, attributing the quote to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee - Jordan made the comment during an appearance on Fox Business Network.

• Denied the unredacted Mueller report, Nadler schedules House vote to hold AG Barr in contempt of Congress
• Breaking: Nadler will subpoena for full unredacted Mueller report today
• Crazed Democrats begin subpoena process for Mueller report & Trump aides

• Juan Guaido's chief of staff arrested by Venezuelan authorities
• Caracas: Lawmakers taking part in coup attempt shall be stripped of immunity

Rouhani announced that Tehran will be gradually suspending its commitments under the deal, giving other parties subsequent periods of 60 days to negotiate a reversal of those actions. He blamed European signatories of failing to compensate to Iran the damage done by US unilateral sanctions after Washington broke its part of the bargain.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif earlier told reporters Tehran would be backing out of some "voluntary commitments" under the 2015 agreement as a response to the EU's inability to stand up to the pressure of Washington's attempts to isolate Iran.

As of now, Tehran will no longer sell off excessive enriched uranium and heavy water, the Iranian president said. Under JCPOA terms, it is required to dispose of those materials if production exceeds certain thresholds.

Other signatories will have 60 days to negotiate with Iran and address its concerns, particularly in oil industry and banking sector, which Washington targets with its sanctions. If an agreement is reached, the suspension will be reversed.

Otherwise Iran will no longer be bound by an obligation not to enrich uranium over a certain level and may restore the shut heavy water nuclear reactor in Arak, which was supposed to be repurposed with the help of other signatories under the nuclear deal.

After those measures are implemented, 60 more days will be given for negotiations, Rouhani warned. And then Iran may take additional unspecified measures, he said.

Rouhani defended the JCPOA as a deal that was beneficial to Iran and detrimental to the enemies of Iran. He said only "radicals in the US," Israel and Saudi-led Arab nations were interested in destroying it.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said Tehran's decision to row back on its commitments under the nuclear pact is reversible, and the deal can be saved if European states meet their obligations.

Zarif is currently in Moscow, where he told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Iran's move doesn't violate the original terms of the 2015 agreement. He added that there's now a 60-day period for diplomatic activity over its decision.

Iran can guarantee the continued survival of the deal if European nations fulfill their obligations under the agreement, Zarif said.

Iran says the move is a response to the US' withdrawal from the agreement one year ago, and the external pressure that has been placed on Tehran as a result. Zarif said only Russia and China have supported Iran and helped it to keep the nuclear deal going.

Zarif blamed the other signatories - Britain, Germany and France - for failing to shield it from US sanctions. France said that the three European states are doing all they can to keep the accord alive, while China has stated that all sides have a responsibility to ensure the agreement is fully implemented.

"Yes, they made some nice statements," Zarif said of comments from European leaders. "But in practice nothing happened."

Press TV reported on Wednesday, citing sources close to Iranian president Hassan Rouhani that Tehran might withdraw from the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons if the UN Security Council puts the issue of the Iranian nuclear deal on the agenda.

Commenting on the partial suspension of Iranian commitments under the JCPOA, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted earlier in the day it would be premature to hold a UNSC meeting on the matter.