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Iran nuclear deal will remain insists EU

November 9, 2017 at 2:26 pm

Nuclear power plant [Tennessee Valley Authority/Wikipedia]

The EU has insisted that concerns over Iran’s national missile programme and its foreign policy are unrelated to the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Speaking to reporters ahead of a NATO defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels yesterday, EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said Iran’s missile programme or its regional polices are not related to the 2015 nuclear agreement.

Mogherini explained that the EU has “strong concerns about both the ballistic missile programme and some of the policies in the region – especially linked to the conflicts in Syria or in Yemen” however, “these issues have to be tackled outside of the nuclear agreement that covers only nuclear related issues.”

The foreign policy chief was asked about her visit to Washington earlier in the week during which she gave strong backing for the deal and opposed reopening the agreement.

Mogherini’s comments are a strong rebuke of US President Donald Trump who last month dealt a blow to the pact by refusing to certify that Tehran was complying with the accord even though international inspectors said it was.

Kerry: Trump’s decision against Iran ‘dangerous’

Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in return for relief from economic sanctions but Trump’s unilateral decision has thrown into doubt the future of the pact negotiated by Iran, the EU and six major powers – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. Congress has until mid-December to decide whether to reimpose sanctions lifted under the deal, something few diplomats expect.

Mogherini accepted that there were legitimate concerns over Iranian foreign policy and revealed that the EU has kept some of the non-nuclear related sanctions in place, in particular on terrorist activities or human rights, but the deal, according to the diplomat, was working.

#NuclearDeal

In an article for the Washington Post Mogherini said on Tuesday: “Iran dismantled more than two-thirds of installed centrifuges and shipped out 98 per cent of its enriched uranium. Its plutonium track has also been closed through the ongoing conversion of the heavy-water reactor in Arak. Thanks to the deal, Iran is also already implementing the IAEA’s Additional Protocol: this means that Iran is and will always continue to be subject to restrictions and a strict monitoring regime, including inspections.”

“The Iran deal has been designed to address one thing only: the Iranian nuclear issue. That is the letter and the spirit of the deal. Nobody, neither Europe nor the US, will be in a better situation without it in place. Undermining the deal would only make the whole world a much more dangerous place,” she concluded.