Iran says incentives to stick to nuclear deal are still 'not enough'

European proposals to boost business with Iran are astep forward but will likely be insufficient to stop Tehran fromexiting its nuclear deal with major powers, Iranian Deputy ForeignMinister Abbas Araqhchi said Friday.Senior diplomats from five major powers including Britain, France andGermany met Araqhchi in Vienna, after Tehran threatened to graduallystop implementing the 2015 deal.Iran's threat is a reaction to the US decision to walk away from thepact and to revive sanctions that target the Islamic Republic's oilexports and its international financial transactions.On Friday, European powers announced the start of their so-calledInstex scheme, a barter system for European-Iranian trade that ismeant to avoid US sanctions."INSTEX now operational, first transactions being processed and moreEU Members States to join," tweeted senior EU diplomat Helga Schmid,who led the Vienna meeting."I believe that it was a positive and constructive meeting," Araqhchitold reporters after his talks with senior diplomats from Britain,France, Germany, Russia China and the European Union.He said that the activation of Instex was "one step forward," butadded that "it is still not enough." "It is still not meeting Iran'sexpectations," he said.What Iran really wants is for European countries to buy Iranian oil,he stressed, voicing a demand that is unlikely to be met.Companies with business in the US fear that any contracts with Iranwould make them a target of Washington's punitive measures.If European efforts to mitigate US sanctions continue to fall shortof Tehran's expectations, Iran will go ahead with its plan to stopimplementing key provisions of its 2015 nuclear deal with worldpowers, he said.He stressed, however, that it was now up to Iranian leaders to decideon the way forward. Foreign Ministers from Iran and the five powers are planning to meetin the coming weeks, Araqhchi announced.Iran said in May that it would gradually exit the 2015 deal, bybreaking certain limits on uranium enrichment this week and, in earlyJuly, that were designed to prevent the development of a nuclearwarhead.An Iranian official said hours before the Vienna meeting that thefirst of the two limits, which regulates how much uranium can bestocked, had not yet been surpassed.The official warned that Iran would reconsider its currently peacefulnuclear policy and would take steps to leave the global NuclearNon-Proliferation Treaty in case the UN Security Council punishesIran for exiting the 2015 pact. Senior Chinese arms control official Fu Cong told reporters Fridayafternoon that the "this has been a reasonably good meeting.""It is conducive to easing the tensions in the region," he said,referring to the sabre-rattling between Washington and Tehran.President Donald Trump came close to ordering an airstrike inretaliation against Iran's downing of a US drone near the Strait ofHormuz, a strategically important oil-shipping route.However, Trump has been sending mixed messages, indicating he is alsowilling to hold talks with Tehran.He said Friday in Japan that he was in no hurry to deal with Iran,while expressing hope for a positive outcome."There is absolutely no time pressure. I think that in the endhopefully it's going to work out," Trump said on the sidelines of theG20 summit of major economies in Osaka."If it does, great, if it doesn't, you'll be hearing about it," headded.The Iranian official said in Vienna that Washington should enter intoa "ceasefire" in its economic war against Tehran if it wanted toenter into diplomatic talks."If you are under bombardment, you don't go for negotiations. Becauseif you go, it's not a negotiation, it's a surrender," the officialsaid.