Last week, Iran stated that it would continue to reduce its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal, and proceed to enrich uranium based on the technical requirements of its nuclear industry.
Speaking during an urgent meeting of NATO countries, the bloc's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that all the member-states have agreed that Iran should never acquire a nuclear weapon.
"At our meeting today, Allies called for restraint and de-escalation. A new conflict would be in no-one's interest, so Iran must refrain from further violence and provocations," Stoltenberg said.
The statement comes hours after US President Donald Trump rushed to Twitter to say that Iran would never be allowed to gain access to a nuclear weapon.
The agenda of the NATO Monday meeting focused on the situation in Iraq following the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) elite Quds Force, in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport on Friday.
The killing prompted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to warn that Tehran will take revenge for what it views to be a heinous crime. Baghdad has condemned the attack as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, with the national parliament voting to expel foreign troops from the country.
US President Donald Trump, in turn, threatened Iraq with "sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever," saying US troops will not leave the country unless America is paid back for its "very extraordinarily expensive airbase" located there.
