“When it comes to the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] – we discussed that with Minister [of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, [Javad] Zarif just yesterday – for the European Union it is crystal clear that the agreement is belonging to all international community through the endorsement of the UN Security Council. I have a special, personal role to guarantee that it is implemented fully by all and beyond that, the European Union and its Member States will continue to engage with Iran no matter what the policies of other partners we have around the world would be, to engage in different sectors, from energy to economy, science and technology matters, as we are doing. Because we always believe in dialogue and engagement, even when we have differences and difficulties and that is always the case with many of our partners in the world,” Mogherini was quoted as saying by the official website of the European Union External Action in a news conference in Oslo.
“… first of all, I would like to underline what John [Kerry, former US Secretary of State] said. We had just ten days ago the sixth IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] report saying that the agreement is fully implemented. So we are defeating all these skeptics who first were betting on the impossibility to have an agreement, then on the impossibility of having the agreement starting to be put in place when we got to the implementation day, and then were saying in any case it will never hold; and now we are getting close to the second year and for the sixth time the IAEA says that it is fully implemented. I would like to say very clearly that I am confident that the review in the United States will bring to wise decisions which means keeping something that is working on the US side. But, in any case, the European Union will guarantee that the deal keeps, that we stick to that – it does not belong to any single country, it belongs to the international community and as far as the European Union is concerned and all the Member States, we will make sure that the agreement continues to be in place and our policy of engagement with Iran will continue,” she added.
In relevant remarks on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi stressed that the world powers who have signed the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran are committed to prevent Washington’s defiance of the agreement.
“If we put aside the US defiance, we are facing certain problems in banking interactions,” Qassemi said.
“Removing the remaining obstacles needs our efforts to pressure the US. Other members of the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) are also committed to help us implement the nuclear deal and prevent the defiance so that the obstacles decrease,” he added.
Also, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters in Oslo on Monday that he had sent two messages to Mogherini over past few weeks about the US’ failure to live up to its commitments under the JCPOA and the consequences of Washington’s “destructive policies” in that regard.
The issue had been discussed in the latest session of a joint commission that monitors the implementation of the JCPOA and would be on the agenda of the commission’s future meeting, he said.
The top Iranian diplomat also stressed that the JCPOA was currently being implemented in its natural manner as the Islamic Republic and the EU member states were committed to the deal.
Zarif said the US’s failure to honor its obligations was not a new issue and that Iran had little economic interaction with the US beyond the purchases of aircraft, which he said proceeded well despite the US’s failure to perform in other areas.