People take part in a protest to condemn U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in Tehran, Iran, on May 11, 2018. (Xinhua File photo)
TEHRAN, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Iran may quit the nuclear deal it clinched with major world powers in 2015, an Iranian official said Monday.
Iran has a host of different measures to take, including withdrawal from the nuclear accord, if its nuclear case is sent back to the UN Security Council, Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told Press TV.
"If Iran's case is sent to the UN Security Council, the deal will be ruined ... and will not be alive anymore," he explained.
Last week, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced his country's withdrawal from complying with the restrictions set by the nuke accord, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on Iran's enriched uranium reserves and heavy water supplies.
Rouhani also set a 60-day deadline for the remaining parties to the deal to fulfill their obligations, particularly in preserving Iran's interests in the areas of banking and oil.
The Iranian president threatened to increase the level of uranium enrichment and start modernizing the heavy water reactor if the deadline was not met.
Tehran's decision to suspend some of its nuclear deal commitments was meant to allow Europeans more time to comply with their obligations and to bring the international agreement back on its right track, Kamalvandi noted.
The main objective of the JCPOA was the removal of sanctions against Iran in a bid to help the country avail itself of the benefits of the deal, he said.
However, the restrictive measures are still in place despite Tehran's full compliance, the Iranian spokesman added.
