News   /   Politics   /   Nuclear Energy

European countries will continue efforts to preserve JCPOA: German diplomat

(From L-R) Jens Ploetner, the political director at the German Foreign Ministry, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, and German Ambassador to Tehran Michael Klor-Berchtold are seen in the Iranian capital Tehran on May 23, 2019. (Photo by IRNA)

A senior German diplomat says European countries will continue efforts to preserve a 2015 landmark multilateral nuclear accord between Iran and the world powers.

Jens Ploetner, the political director at the German Foreign Ministry, who arrived in the Iranian capital on Thursday, met with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, during which he said his country will “remain committed” to the agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), IRNA reported.

He also said, “European countries will keep up their efforts and consultations aimed at meeting Iran’s demands and preserving the JCPOA.”

Araqchi likewise reminded that Iran’s self-restraint in the face of Europe’s inaction had reached its end, and that the deal’s other parties had to meet their contractual obligations too.

Earlier in the day, a German diplomatic source told Reuters that “at the center of the political director's visit is the preservation of the Vienna nuclear accord."

The agreement was made between the P5+1 group of states -- the United States, the UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany -- and the Islamic Republic in Vienna in July 2015.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions.

 The JCPOA was hailed as a pillar of regional and international peace and security, and ratified in the form of a United Nations Security Council resolution, making adherence to it an international legal obligation.

However, the US left it last May, and reinstated the sanctions. It also began threatening the countries retaining their trade with Iran, as the agreement allows, with “secondary sanctions.”

Upon the US’s departure, Iran began urging the deal’s other signatories to keep their end of the bargain and do not let the US’s pressure affect their transactions with Tehran.

Bowing under Washington’s pressure, however, Europe has only been throwing verbal support behind the deal.

On the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran announced that it would suspend the implementation of some of its commitments under the deal.

Iran announced that it would stop exporting excess uranium and heavy water, setting a 60-day deadline for the five remaining parties to the deal to take practical measures towards ensuring its interests in the face of the American sanctions.


Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Press TV News Roku