Iran's foreign ministry on Monday criticized US President Joe Biden for retaining sanctions against Iran that were imposed by former president Donald Trump, calling it a matter of "shame".
Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the Iranian nuclear accord in 2018, a deal that had curbed Iran's uranium enrichment capabilities in exchange for lifting of economic sanctions.
A year after the U.S. pullout, Tehran decided to decrease its commitments in the deal in a bid to enjoy easing of the sanctions.
"The United States has not changed from the Trump era regarding the imposition of sanctions and this could be a matter of shame for those who founded their election campaign on distancing themselves from Trump administration's bullying policies," Saeed Khatibzadeh, Iranain Foreign Ministry spokesman, said at a briefing on Monday.
Khatibzadeh also reiterated that Iran may stop part of an inspection to its nuclear facilities by inspectors from the international atomic energy agency next week, if the West did not impalement its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
"Next week and on a day that the (Iranian) atomic energy agency will determine after technical considerations, the government is obligated by the parliament to stop voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol, if the other parties have not fulfilled their commitments until that day," Khatibzadeh added.
The Additional Protocol, Iran voluntarily agreed to in 2016, allows the IAEA inspectors to carry out more intrusive inspections to Iran's nuclear facilities.
Khatibzadeh said the decision is reversible if the other parties impalement their commitments.
In December, Iran's parliament approved a bill that would suspend part of U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities if European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal do not provide relief from oil and banking sanctions.
Associated Press
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