Saturday 30th October 2021
Escalation with Tehran threatens
Iran’s nuclear program scares Merkel
What his predecessor Trump has canceled, US President Biden is now trying to cement. At the G20 summit, the Europeans and the USA jointly swear again that Iran should never have nuclear weapons. At the same time, Merkel, Macron and Johnson also see the danger of an escalation with Tehran.
Without Iran’s swift return to the nuclear deal, the US, France, Great Britain and Germany fear “a dangerous escalation”. The country’s heads of state and government expressed “great and growing concern” over the expansion of Iran’s nuclear program, as stated in a joint statement by US President Joe Biden, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Acting Chancellor Angela Merkel emerges. On the sidelines of the G20 summit of leading economic powers in Rome, they discussed the imminent resumption of nuclear talks with Iran.
Only by returning to the international agreement can “a dangerous escalation, which is not in the interests of any country, be avoided,” they declared in Rome. “We have expressed our determination to ensure that Iran can never develop or acquire nuclear weapons,” it said. The US government had previously stated that the meeting was about putting pressure on Iran through a united stance. Tehran wants to resume tough nuclear negotiations in Vienna in November.
Alarming enrichment
Iran has recently expanded its nuclear program, for example by producing highly enriched uranium, for which there is no “credible civil need,” it said. However, this is important for nuclear weapons programs, which underscores that Iran’s nuclear program is a risk to international security, it said. “These steps are all the more alarming in view of the fact that Iran has at the same time reduced cooperation and transparency vis-à-vis the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”
After the meeting, Merkel said that more time was passing “and that the enrichments will continue in Iran. That worries us very much.” For this reason, it was time “to talk about what can be done to prevent Iran from being armed with nuclear weapons”. She added: “We are of course betting on Iran’s return to the negotiating table.”
USA want to go back to the negotiating table
The four states declared that the US was ready to revert to the agreement and “fully” comply with it. This would also allow the sanctions to be lifted, which would fuel the ailing Iranian economy, it said. “That will only be possible if Iran changes course.” Iran’s current course jeopardizes the possibility of a return to the nuclear deal, it said.
A sticking point in the negotiations was ultimately the question of who has to move first: Should the Americans first lift their sanctions or should the Iranians reverse the expansion of their nuclear program? No agreement is in sight on the issue. The talks that had been going on since April to reinstate the 2015 nuclear agreement in Vienna were interrupted after the Iranian presidential election in June and the subsequent change of government.
The background to the talks is that the USA under ex-President Donald Trump unilaterally adopted the agreement in 2018 and decided on many new sanctions against Iran. As a result, Tehran began to expand its nuclear program again. The remaining contracting parties endeavor in the Vienna talks to revive the pact. The agreement was intended to prevent Iranian nuclear weapons from being built. In return, the sanctions that are troubling Iran’s economy should be lifted.