Declaration by the Heads of State and Government of France, Germany and the United Kingdom
Joint statement from Prime Minister Theresa May, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Emmanuel Macron following President Trump’s statement on the US’ Iran Strategy.
We, the Leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom take note of President Trump’s decision not to recertify Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to Congress and are concerned by the possible implications.
We stand committed to the JCPoA and its full implementation by all sides. Preserving the JCPoA is in our shared national security interest. The nuclear deal was the culmination of 13 years of diplomacy and was a major step towards ensuring that Iran’s nuclear programme is not diverted for military purposes. The JCPoA was unanimously endorsed by the UN Security Council in Resolution 2231. The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly confirmed Iran’s compliance with the JCPoA through its long-term verification and monitoring programme. Therefore, we encourage the US Administration and Congress to consider the implications to the security of the US and its allies before taking any steps that might undermine the JCPoA, such as re-imposing sanctions on Iran lifted under the agreement.
At the same time as we work to preserve the JCPoA, we share concerns about Iran’s ballistic missile programme and regional activities that also affect our European security interests. We stand ready to take further appropriate measures to address these issues in close cooperation with the US and all relevant partners. We look to Iran to engage in constructive dialogue to stop de-stabilising actions and work towards negotiated solutions.
Our governments are committed to ensuring the JCPoA is maintained. Independent of the JCPOA, we need to make sure that our collective wider concerns are being addressed.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/decl ... ed-kingdomIranian president denounces Trump's disavowal of nuclear deal
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Friday savaged President Trump's disavowal of the Iran nuclear deal, asserting that the agreement would not be renegotiated and proclaiming the United States more isolated than ever before.
In a televised address on Friday, Rouhani said Tehran remains committed to the agreement, and dismissed the notion that one country could simply revoke the U.N.-based Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 deal to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
"The great nation of Iran saw tonight once again that America took a hostile position against an international deal," Rouhani said, according to a translation provided by Press TV, an English-language news network affiliated with the Iranian government.
"Once again, the [European Union] also took a firm position against the United States. America is now more than ever isolated," he continued.
In decertifying the agreement, Rouhani said, Trump cost the U.S. international credibility, and said that Tehran would not accept any changes to the agreement.
"We will not expect anything else from you from now on. With your incorrect words, you made us more united than ever."
http://thehill.com/policy/international ... clear-dealEU: US has no right to terminate Iran accord
In sharp rebuke to Trump, EU’s foreign policy chief says deal will stay in place.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said Friday that the United States had no right to unilaterally terminate the Iran nuclear accord. She called the agreement “effective” and said there had been “no violations of any of the commitments” in the deal.
At a news conference at the European Commission’s Brussels headquarters, Mogherini gave a strongly-worded rebuke of the U.S., which has been a chief ally of the EU on security matters, including the response to Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine.
Her comments were aimed directly at U.S. President Donald Trump, moments after he gave a speech in Washington saying he would not certify Iran’s compliance with the agreement, and was asking Congress to adopt legislation that would potentially trigger the reimposition of sanctions on Tehran.
“More than two years ago, exactly in July 2015, the entire international community welcomed the results of 12 years of intense negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Mogherini said, adding: “It is not a bilateral agreement. It does not belong to any single country. And it is not up to any single country to terminate it. It is a multilateral agreement, which was unanimously endorsed by the United Nations Security Council.”
Mogherini said the agreement — known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA — had made the world safer, and there was no reason to believe Iran had failed to keep up its end of the bargain.
“It is a robust deal that provides guarantees and a strong monitoring mechanism so that Iran’s nuclear program is and will remain exclusively for civilian purposes only,” she said. “We cannot afford as an international community, as Europe for sure, to dismantle a nuclear agreement that is working and delivering, especially now.”
“The International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, has verified eight times that Iran is implementing all of its nuclear-related commitments, following a comprehensive and strict monitoring system,” Mogherini said. “There have been no violations of any of the commitments included in the agreement.”
Mogherini noted the recent “acute nuclear threat” — an apparent reference to North Korea, which Trump has threatened to “utterly destroy.”
And she issued a remarkably stinging description of Trump’s break with the international community that suggested Washington’s credibility as the leader on global security issues was in jeopardy. Mogherini’s declaration that Europe and the international community would not follow Trump’s lead came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke by telephone with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif earlier on Friday to reiterate Moscow’s commitment to the nuclear agreement.
“The United States domestic process, and I underline domestic, following today’s announcement of President Trump is now in the hands of the United States Congress,” Mogherini said. “The JCPOA is not a domestic issue, but a U.N. Security Council resolution. The international community, and the European Union with it, has clearly indicated that the deal is, and will continue to be, in place.”
http://www.politico.eu/article/federica ... yndication