Russia, EU signal parting ways with US on Iran deal

EghtesadOnline: Russia and the European Union rally behind a 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran after reports that US President Donald Trump is set to decertify the international accord soon.

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07 October 2017

The European Commission said on Friday that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the agreement is called, is working and all sides should stick to their commitments.

The remarks by a Commission spokeswoman came after a senior US administration official said on Thursday Trump would announce soon that he would decertify the landmark agreement, PressTV reported.

"We are following very closely all the developments on the deal... reminding that it is a non-proliferation deal, which has been endorsed by the UN Security Council, that it's working, delivering as it has been verified eight times by the international agency for atomic energy," the spokeswoman told a news conference in Brussels.

"It is a durable, long-term solution to the Iranian nuclear issue which gives all sides the necessary assurances and we expect all sides to stick to their commitments under the deal," she added.

Trump faces an Oct. 15 deadline for certifying that Iran is complying with the accord's terms. The US president has twice endorsed Tehran's compliance but on Thursday he claimed that Iran had not "lived up to the spirit of the agreement."

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is fresh from verifying Iran's compliance as recently as last month, while other parties to the agreement are also on board, except the US leader.

Speaking to reporters on a visit to Kazakhstan on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he hoped Trump would make a "balanced" decision on the agreement.

"It is very important to preserve it in its current form and of course the participation of the United States will be a very significant factor in this regard," Lavrov said.

The agreement was concluded between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group of countries — the US, the UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany. It terminated nuclear-related sanctions against Iran in return for the application of certain limits by Iran to its nuclear program.

The CNN reported on Tuesday that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had been working on a plan to keep the United States in the agreement.

It cited several US officials and Western diplomats as saying that the top diplomat was working with congressional lawmakers to amend the US legislation that requires the president to report on Iranian compliance.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis also said recently that Trump’s administration had to consider remaining a party to the Iran deal.