EU urges Iran to respect nuclear deal, regrets US sanctions

The European Union on Thursday urged Iran to respect the international agreement curbing the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions, and added that the bloc aims to continue trading with the country despite US sanctions.

The EU and major European powers — Britain, France and Germany — also said that they “note with great concern the statement made by Iran concerning its commitments” to the nuclear deal, stressing that they “reject any ultimatums” coming from Tehran.

The joint statement came as the bloc struggles to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, a day after a new deadline from Tehran on finding a solution to make up for last year’s unilateral US withdrawal from the accord and re-imposed US sanctions on Iran.

“We remain fully committed to the preservation and full implementation” of the deal, endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, said the EU statement.

The Trump administration pulled America out of the 2015 deal a year ago, saying it does nothing to stop Iran from developing missiles or destabilising the Middle East. The Europeans insist that the pact is an important pillar of regional and global security and was never meant to address those other issues.

United States President Donald Trump has tightened the screws further on Iran with sanctions on its mining industry after a frustrated Tehran said it would suspend some promises it made under a nuclear deal rejected by Washington.

On the anniversary of Trump’s withdrawal from the accord he denounced as “horrible”, tensions were soaring as the US deployed an aircraft carrier strike group and nuclear-capable bombers to the region and accused Iran of “imminent” attacks.

In an announcement previewed for days, Iran said it would immediately stop implementing some restrictions under the 2015 deal — a move aimed largely at pressing Washington’s European allies to step up to preserve the agreement.

Tehran said it would abandon even more if the remaining parties to the agreement — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — failed to start delivering on their commitments to sanctions relief within 60 days.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the ultimatum was intended to rescue the nuclear deal from Trump, whose sanctions have caused severe pain in Iran, which had anticipated an economic boon from the agreement negotiated under then-president Barack Obama.

“We felt the [deal] needed surgery and that the year-long sedatives have not delivered any result. This surgery is meant to save the [deal], not destroy it,” Rouhani said at a cabinet meeting broadcast live on state television.

Rouhani denounced European countries for seeing the US as the world’s “sheriff” and said their view kept them from making “firm decisions for their own national interests”.