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World powers implore Iran to stick with nuclear deal

European nations expressed regret that Iran had exceeded a 300-kilogram cap on its stockpile of low enriched uranium, but diplomats said they were seeking ways to keep Iran in the nuclear deal.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L-R) pose for a family picture after the last plenary session at the United Nations building in Vienna, Austria July 14, 2015. Iran and six major world powers

WASHINGTON — World powers on Tuesday implored Iran to return to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, a day after it announced that it had exceeded a 300-kilogram cap on its stockpile of low enriched uranium. But while expressing regret at Iran’s move, European nations said they were looking to ratchet up diplomatic efforts to find ways to keep Iran in the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and were not yet ready to declare the deal dead or to move for UN sanctions against Iran.

“We regret this decision by Iran,” the foreign ministers of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the European Union External Action Service said in a joint statement July 2. “We are urgently considering next steps … in close coordination with other [JCPOA] participants."

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