UN, EU, Russia back Iran deal as Trump meets Macron
US allies and rivals spoke out in support of the Iran nuclear deal on Monday, bolstering French President Emmanuel Macron’s pitch to President Donald Trump that there was no “Plan B” for keeping a lid on Tehran’s atomic ambitions.
Macron is on something of a rescue mission for the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump has vowed to scrap unless European allies strengthen it by mid-May.
A nuclear non-proliferation conference in Geneva heard repeated calls for parties to the deal — the US, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany — to ensure its implementation and preservation.
“The JCPOA continues to be the best way to ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme and to realise the promised tangible economic benefits for the Iranian people,” UN high representative for disarmament affairs Izumi Nakamitsu said.
But US non-proliferation
GENEVA/MOSCOW:
envoy Christopher Ford said Iran presented a very real long-term challenge to the non-proliferation regime.
On a visit to Beijing, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said he had agreed with his Chinese counterpart to block any US attempt to sabotage the deal.
EU disarmament envoy Jacek Bylica said the deal strengthened the non-proliferation regime, contributed to regional and international security and ensured the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme.
Cornel Seruta, a senior official at the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the deal had significantly improved access to Iran. “In short, Iran is now subject to the most robust nuclear verification regime and Iran is implementing its nuclear related commitments under the JCPOA,” he said. REUTERS