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France, UK, Germany want to keep Iran nuclear agreement ‘alive’

May 9, 2019 at 11:29 am

French Defence Minister Florence Parly in Brussels, Belgium on 29 June 2017 [US Secretary of Defense/Wikipedia]

France, the UK and Germany are doing their best to keep the 2015 nuclear deal signed with Iran alive, French Defence Minister Florence Parly said yesterday.

“Today nothing would be worse than Iran, itself, leaving this agreement,” she told BFM TV/RMC radio.

However, the French minister warned Iran that its failure to respect its commitments to the nuclear agreement may lead to the reimposition of sanctions previously lifted under the agreement.

“This is probably one of the things that will be examined. There are no sanctions today from Europe because Iran has so far always respected the commitments it has taken,” she said, adding that “if these commitments were not respected, naturally this question would be asked.”

Earlier yesterday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that he would resume production of more-highly-enriched uranium in 60 days if other signatories did not act to protect Iran from US sanctions.

READ: UN chief hopes Iran nuclear deal can be saved

Iran and the world powers, namely Russia, the United States, France, China and Britain plus Germany, in 2015 signed an agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Under the agreement, Tehran agreed to abandon, for at least ten years, vital parts of its programme in return for lifting sanctions imposed on it.

However, in May last year US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the agreement and the reimposition of sanctions on Tehran.