Should expire soon
Europeans are sticking to nuclear sanctions against Iran
September 14, 2023, 8:27 p.m
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Because former US President Trump suddenly withdraws from the nuclear pact with Iran, Germany, Great Britain and France, Tehran reacts with violations. Even with successor Biden, the agreement cannot be renewed. Europe now wants to let an important deadline pass.
Germany, France and Great Britain do not want to lift existing sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear program. Because Iran is not complying with the pact, they are committed to ensuring that the sanctions remain in force, as EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced. Under the 2015 pact to prevent the Islamic Republic from developing nuclear weapons, the sanctions were originally scheduled to end in mid-October. Borrell will now begin consultations with Iran, China and Russia about further steps, he said.
The three states negotiated the nuclear agreement together with Germany, Great Britain, France and the United States in Vienna. In 2015, Tehran committed to drastically restricting the enrichment of uranium and allowing strict controls by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This was intended to prevent the construction of nuclear weapons. In return, many sanctions against Iran were lifted. However, former US President Donald Trump announced the United States’ withdrawal from the pact in 2018. Iran responded by violating its nuclear obligations – among other things, the Islamic Republic is enriching uranium to a level of purity that is almost weapons-grade. Iran also drastically restricted monitoring by the IAEA.
According to the nuclear agreement, the ongoing sanctions related to the nuclear program should be lifted on October 18th. This includes, among other things, embargoes for conventional weapons and missile delivery systems, as well as sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
After Trump’s successor Joe Biden took office, the USA and the three European states tried in vain to restore the nuclear pact in negotiations with Iran. Even though there has been no progress recently, Washington and Tehran are currently trying to de-escalate on another front: both sides recently agreed on the release of US prisoners from Iran, in return for the release of frozen Iranian oil revenues. However, the prisoners are not yet free.
The day before, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke by phone to her Iranian counterpart Hussein Amirabdollahian for the first time in a year and a half. According to the German Foreign Ministry, a particular focus was on “German consular cases”. Several Germans are imprisoned in Iran.