Iran abandons 2015 nuclear deal after Soleimani killing

Iran will no longer abide by any of the limits of its 2015 nuclear deal, its state television has announced on 5 January.
The move comes after the country’s top commander, Qassem Soleimani, was killed following a US drone strike while travelling in a car convoy. The development raised further tensions between Washington and Tehran. Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei vowed “severe” retaliation.
Soleimani was the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force and the mastermind behind the Islamic Republic’s military and foreign policy in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.
The administration of Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani said in a statement that the country will not observe limitations on its enrichment, the amount of stockpiled enriched uranium as well as research and development in its nuclear activities.
Tehran has already broken some of the deal’s limits, by enriching uranium to 5% and restarting enrichment at an underground facility.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Boris Johnson called on Iran in a joint statement to abide by the terms of the nuclear deal and refrain from conducting or supporting further “violent acts”.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell invited Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to visit Brussels while stressing the importance of preserving the Iran nuclear deal. He also “urged Iran to exercise restraint and carefully consider any reaction to avoid further escalation, which harms the entire region and its people.”
Meanwhile, the US cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency warned about a potential new wave of Iranian cyber-attacks targeting US assets:
“CISA is aware of a recent rise in malicious cyber activity directed at United States industries and government agencies by Iranian regime actors and proxies. We will continue to work with our intelligence community and cybersecurity partners to monitor Iranian cyber activity, share information, and take steps to keep America and our allies safe”.
Iran’s foreign ministry said that Soleimani’s killing would prompt Iranian officials to take a bigger step away from the nuclear deal.
“In the world of politics, all developments are interconnected”, the ministry stated.