TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Monday that case of Assadollah Asadi, an Iranian diplomat who was arrested in Germany, will be pursued.

“The case will be pursued politically and legally and we hope that his innocence will be proved soon and he will be freed,” he told reported on sidelines of a ceremony.

Asadi was arrested in Germany in June 2018 on the false charges of being linked to a bomb attack plot in the French capital, Paris.

In October 2018, prosecutors said Germany extradited the Iranian diplomat to Belgium.

Belgian authorities said that the Iranian diplomat had been arrested along with a 38-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman, suspected of plotting a bomb attack on a meeting of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in Paris, which was attended by U.S. president’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and several former European and Arab ministers.

‘Europeans should take practical steps by July 7’

Mousavi also said that he hopes Europeans will take practical steps in implementing INSTEX by July 7 or Iran will take second step in reducing its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

On May 8, Iran announced a partial withdrawal from some aspects of the nuclear pact, saying that the country would no longer adhere to some of the limits on its nuclear activities. It also threatened to step up uranium enrichment if an agreement is not made within 60 days to protect it from the sanctions’ effects. The deadline ends on July 7.

In line with Tehran’s decision to scale back its commitments under the nuclear deal in protest to reimposition of sanctions by the United States, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced on June 17 that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium will exceed 300 kilograms by June 27.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile has passed the 300 kilogram limit under the JCPOA.

“I have been informed that Iran has passed 300-kilogram stockpile according to its plans and we had announced that earlier. Based on what had been announced, we have said very clearly what we do and consider it our rights within the framework of the JCPOA,” he told ISNA on the sidelines of a ceremony.

Under the JCPOA, Iran was only allowed to keep 300 kilograms of enriched uranium.

On Friday, the remaining signatories of the nuclear agreement met in the Austrian capital as a last-ditch effort to save the accord after the U.S. withdrew last year.

They announced in a statement that the European Union mechanism for trade with Iran is up and running.

NA