Three EU signatories to 2015 deal say Iran is respecting agreement that has made world safer and ‘prevented potential nuclear arms race’

Washington’s closest allies have sent a carefully timed warning to Donald Trump not to tear up the Iran nuclear deal, saying it is essential for international security, and no better alternative has been suggested by the White House.



At a meeting in Brussels attended by the Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany, the three EU signatories to the deal, insisted that Iran was respecting the agreement signed in 2015.

The display of resolve came before a decision by the US president, expected on Friday, on whether to continue to sign a waiver to prevent the reimposition of economic sanctions against Iran. Tehran has warned that any failure to sign the waiver would lead to the deal’s collapse, and the speedy restart of uranium enrichment.

The EU’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, said the deal, denounced by Trump as the worst ever made, had in reality “made the world safer and prevented a potential nuclear arms race in the region”.

She also said any doubts the EU harboured over Iran’s development of ballistic missiles, or its overall policy of interference across the Middle East, were separate from the nuclear deal – also known as the JCPOA.

Both France and Britain, in part to remain in alliance with the US, have said Iran needs to sign fresh agreements over both issues. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has spoken of supplementing the nuclear deal.

Zarif did not join the post-meeting press conference but tweeted: “Strong consensus in Brussels today: 1) Iran is complying with #JCPOA, 2) Iranian people have every right to all its dividends, 3) Any move that undermines JCPOA is unacceptable. E3 and EU fully aware that Iran’s continued compliance conditioned on full compliance by the US.”

The German foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel, said: “We want to protect the JCPOA against every possible undermining decision whatever that may come. It would send a very dangerous signal to the rest of the world if the only agreement that prevents the proliferation of nuclear weapons was negatively affected.”

The French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said: “There is no indication today that could call into doubt Iranian respect of the agreement.”

Boris Johnson, Britain’s foreign secretary, said: “I don’t think anybody has so far produced a better alternative” to the agreement.

He said it was “incumbent on those who oppose the JCPOA to come up with that better solution because we have not seen it so far. We greatly value the JCPOA, the nuclear deal with Iran. We think it is a considerable diplomatic accomplishment. It’s a way of stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and Iran is in compliance with this agreement, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.”

Q&A Why is Trump hostile to Iran? Show Hide The genesis of Trump’s particular antipathy to Iran is hard to pin down. Before entering office he had been sceptical of Iran’s regional rival, Saudi Arabia. But during the 2016 election campaign all his closest foreign policy advisors, such as Michael Flynn, shared a worldview that portrays Iran as an uniquely malign actor in the Middle East and beyond. After the election, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were successful in capturing the ear of Trump and his son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner.

On a bilateral basis Johnson raised with Zarif the issue of the British dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been held in a Tehran jail for two years after being found guilty of espionage.

Johnson raised her plight on a visit to Tehran before Christmas, but no further progress was reported, and it is likely that the recent Iran-wide street protects – which hardliners blame on foreign including UK interference – may not have helped her chances of early release.

Washington has been more forthright than Europe in supporting the protests and implying that regime change is a realistic possibility. The EU has focused on ensuring that the right to protest is defended.

Discussing Iran’s wider behaviour, Le Drian reiterated that European governments were open to pressing Iran on its missile programme and regional activities but that this must happen separately from the nuclear accord.

French officials have said they will consider sanctions if Iran pushes ahead with its missile programme. However, EU sanctions must be agreed unanimously by all member states and, unlike in the US, no preparation for such sanctions has been made.

The former UK foreign secretary Jack Straw has suggested the EU consider legislation to protect EU companies from US sanctions if Washington reimposes sanctions over the deal.