EU foreign policy representative Peter Stano said that the EU is working to maintain the deal.
The European Union refuses to comment on the statement of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that Britain, France and Germany “sold the remains” of the Iranian nuclear deal (JCPOA) in exchange for the promise of U.S. President Donald Trump not to impose duties on European cars.
“As for Minister Zarif’s remark regarding the ‘Eurotrack’, we do not comment… We are working to keep the deal because it is very important”. – EU foreign policy representative Peter Stano said at a press conference in Brussels on Thursday.
Earlier Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Britain, France and Germany had “sold the remains” of the Iranian nuclear deal in exchange for U.S. President Donald Trump’s promise not to impose duties on European cars. Thus, the Foreign Minister commented on the relevant publication of The Washington Post.
The Washington Post on Wednesday, citing sources, claimed that Trump threatened Paris, London and Berlin to introduce duties at the rate of 25% on European cars, if they do not accuse Iran of violating the JCPOA. She said the warning was issued a week before the said countries launched a dispute resolution mechanism for the nuclear deal on 14 January. One of the newspaper’s sources called the move “extortion” by the US.
At the same time, the newspaper’s interlocutors noted that the threat from Trump almost forced the Europeans to give up this idea out of fear that they might be considered “puppets” of Washington, if this information gets to the media.
The future of the deal came into question after the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the deal on May 8, 2018 and Washington imposed sanctions on Tehran for its oil exports. According to Iran, the rest of the participants, especially Europeans, do not fully adhere to their obligations in the economic part of the agreement, so it makes no sense in its current form. Therefore, Iran has started the phased suspension of its commitments under the JCPOA related to uranium enrichment and research activities, and in early January announced the completion of that process.