Iran won’t try to save nuclear deal

Adhere to agreement, EU implores

UN ITED NAT IONS • Iran warned the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that it would no longer be burdened with preserving a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers as European states pushed Tehran to stick with the agreement because there is “no credible, peaceful alternative.”

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal last year, inflaming tensions between Tehran and Washington that led to Iran shooting down a U.S. drone last week. Trump ordered retaliatory air strikes but called them off at the last minute.

Under the deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program most UN and western sanctions on Iran were lifted, however the United States has imposed new sanctions that it says are designed to force Iran back to the negotiating table.

“The U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA and reimposition of its sanctions, rendered the JCPOA almost fully ineffective,” Iran’s UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi told the 15-member Security Council, using the acronym for the deal’s formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

“Iran alone cannot, shall not and will not take all of the burdens any more to preserve the JCPOA ,” he said.

European powers have been trying to save the deal, but Iran has given them a deadline of July 8. It has said it is ready to go through with a threat to enrich uranium to a higher level than permitted under the deal if Europe cannot shield Tehran from U.S. sanctions.

“The JCPOA is a nuclear agreement that has been working and delivering on its goals. There is also no credible, peaceful alternative,” European Union UN Ambassador Joao Vale de Almeida warned the UN Security Council.

The nuclear deal is endorsed in a 2015 Security Council resolution. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reports every six months on implementation of that resolution, which also subjects Iran to an arms embargo and other restrictions.

Acting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jonathan Cohen described Iran’s actions as “deeply counterproductive.”

“Iran’s defiance of the Security Council and its reckless behaviour threatening peace and security globally must not be downplayed in the name of preserving a deal that doesn’t fully cut off Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Although the United States and Iran both say they do not want war, last week’s aborted U.S. strikes have been followed by menacing rhetoric on both sides.