According to the official, following the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, Iran has shown "strategic patience for more than a year," but ultimately had to stop implementing some of its commitments to "provide a new window for diplomacy" to save the nuclear deal.
"Although the deal has been praised as an outstanding achievement of years of diplomatic efforts, respective states have failed to go beyond expressing regret ... It should be noted that Iran's partial cessation of its commitments is reversible in case of full and effective implementation of the JCPOA by the remaining parties to the deal," Salehi said.
The official reiterated that "acquiring, producing, stockpiling and eventually the use of weapons of mass destruction is neither legitimate on the religious principles nor envisaged in Iran's defence doctrine."
"Against lifting of the nuclear-related sanctions, Iran has accepted some provisional limitations on its nuclear program and provided an unprecedented level of monitoring and access to the [International Atomic Energy Agency] IAEA in the context of new commitment under the additional protocol and the JCPOA itself. In this regard, it is not worthy that with only 3 percent of the worldwide nuclear facilities, Iran has provided almost 20 percent of all agency's accesses," Salehi added.
In early September, director of Iran's nuclear energy agency Ali Akbar Salehi said that the European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal had failed to fulfil their commitments under the pact.
The statement came several days after Tehran started the third stage of reducing its nuclear commitments under the 2015 deal. The first announcement of the move was made in May, just a year after the US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement that led to the reinstatement of sanctions against the Middle Eastern country.
According to Tehran, it would reduce its obligations under the treaty every 60 days unless European signatories to the deal ensured Iran's interests under the agreement.
The JCPOA was signed by Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union in 2015. Under the deal, Tehran was to significantly limit its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related international sanctions.
After Washington's withdrawal last year, Iran first increased its enriched uranium stockpile beyond the 300-kilogram limit (661 pounds) set by the JCPOA and then began enriching uranium beyond the allowed 3.67 percent level.
