France and US clash with Iran over changing nuclear accord
French President Emmanuel Macron’s offer of a four-pillar “new deal with Iran” made during his talks with US President Donald Trump has been rejected by Tehran, with the European Union quickly distancing itself from it and defending the 2015 agreement, calling for it to be “preserved”.
The Joint Comprehensive Plans of Action was signed by the US, UK, France, China and Russia, Germany and the EU on side and Iran on the other and went into effect in 2016, but the US president has been mandated by Congress to certify Iranian compliance every 90 days for America to abide by the deal.
Trump has threatened to not sign the certification due on May 12, which might lead to the US snapping back sanctions on Iran and killing the deal. All other signatories want to continue with the agreement, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel due to visit Washington later this week and British Prime Minister Teresa May expected to follow up with a phone call.
However, Macron, who is called the “Trump whisperer” and was expected to use his closeness to the US president to save the deal, might have run too far ahead of the rest.
Addressing the US Congress on Wednesday, Macron defended his offer of a new deal, arguing that though the JCPOA had inadequacies, it should not be abandoned without an alternative plan that addresses those shortcomings, as did his “comprehensive” new agreement.
“Iran shall never possess any nuclear weapons. Not now. Not in five years. Not in 10 years. Never,” he said.
At a joint briefing with Trump on Tuesday, Macron had said that his new deal was based on four pillars, which he said were the JCPOA, extending the freeze on Iran’s nuclear weapons programme beyond 2025, ending Iran’s ballistic missiles programme, and curtailing its influence in the Middle East, especially Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon.
He said: “I think this is what we’ve been agreeing upon today … It’s not about tearing apart an agreement and have nothing, but it’s about building something new that will cover all of our concerns.”
The rejection from Iran was decisive. “We have an agreement called the JCPOA,” said President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran. “It will either last or not. If the JCPOA stays, it stays in full.”
Tehran has said that if the nuclear deal falls through, it will also quit the international NonProliferation Treaty.
The European Union was equally clear in its opposition to the offer. “There is one deal,” said EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels. “It is working, it needs to be preserved.”