Thursday , 28 March 2024

EU plans no additional sanctions against Iran: Foreign Policy Chief

PayvandNews – The European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, says the bloc has no plans to impose more sanctions on Iran after reports emerged that European signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal have proposed fresh sanctions against Tehran under the pressure of Washington.

“We attach strategic importance to the full implementation of the agreement by all parties. For us it’s a matter of security for Europe and the rest of the world” @FedericaMog

The European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini

“There is no proposal of additional sanctions against Iran. It is clearly not a matter of adding sanctions – no proposal in this respect today and clearly, no decision,” Mogherini told reporters on Monday upon her arrival at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council.

She added that the EU foreign ministers would focus on “continuing the full implementation of the nuclear deal,” officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in 2015 amid constant US threats to withdraw from it.

Britain, France and Germany have proposed new EU sanctions on Iran over its missile program and its regional role, a confidential document said on Friday, Reuters reported.

The joint paper was sent to the EU capitals to sound out support for such sanctions as they would need the backing of all 28 member states of the bloc, Reuters quoted two people familiar with the matter as saying.

The proposal is allegedly part of an EU strategy to appease US President Donald Trump and preserve the Iran nuclear deal.

Trump has repeatedly described the JCPOA, which was negotiated under his predecessor, Barack Obama, as “the worst and most one-sided transaction Washington has ever entered into,” a characterization he often used during his presidential campaign, and threatened to tear it up.

The US president said America’s European allies must agree to tougher measures and new conditions until May 12, otherwise Washington would pull out of the deal.

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani on Saturday warned European countries against playing into the hands of the United States and the Israeli regime.

“Defense capabilities, particularly the missile program, of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which have a deterrent nature, will firmly be continued based on national security necessities,” Shamkhani said in a meeting with Oman’s Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi in Tehran.

Mogherini further pointed to the “very good” meeting of the Iran-P5+1 Joint Commission in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Friday and said all the participants acknowledged that the JCPOA “is being implemented and that we all stay committed to its full implementation.”

… Payvand News – 03/20/18 … —

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