Boris urges US to keep to Iran deal
Foreign Secretary joins EU counterparts in telling US president that imposing sanctions is not the answer
Boris Johnson and EU leaders urged Donald Trump not to bring down the Iran nuclear deal by reimposing economic sanctions. The Foreign Secretary challenged the president to name a “better solution” to the agreement if he wanted to scrap it.
James Crisp
Ben Riley-smith
BORIS JOHNSON and EU leaders issued a last-minute call yesterday for Donald Trump not to bring down the Iran nuclear deal by reimposing economic sanctions.
The Foreign Secretary challenged the US president to name a “better solution” if he wanted to scrap the agreement, while other EU figures said ending the deal would defy logic.
Mr Trump must decide whether to keep economic sanctions frozen against Iran – a cornerstone of the 2015 deal – from today because of a series of rolling deadlines.
The US president is expected to continue to waive the sanctions, as allies hope he will, but could also bring in new financial punishments targeting Iran’s military. The mixed approach comes as Mr Trump, a fierce critic of the 2015 deal, attempts to keep his political base happy while living up to the realities of diplomacy.
In a bid to sway Mr Trump to stick with a deal made by Barack Obama, Mr Johnson met Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign affairs chief, and the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Iran in Brussels. At a press conference they called on Mr Trump not to reapply economic sanctions, in a major show of support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Discussing the Iran nuclear deal, Mr Johnson said: “We think it is a considerable diplomatic accomplishment. I don’t think anybody has come up with a better idea.”
In a coded rebuke to Mr Trump, he added: “I think it is incumbent on those who oppose the JCPOA to come up with a better solution because we haven’t seen it so far.” The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly found Tehran has kept its part of the agreement, despite criticism from the Trump administration.
Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s foreign minister, said he wanted to protect the Iran deal from “every possible undermining decision” no matter from where it came. “Were the plan to fail,” he added, it would send a “very dangerous signal to the rest of the world”.
Jean-yves Le Drian, France’s foreign minister, said: “There is no logical reason to break this agreement.
“All parties must be seen to respect all the provisions of this agreement. It is also necessary that our US allies do the same.”
The EU has worked hard since the deal was agreed to open trade and energy links with Iran, despite concerns over its human rights record and interference in other countries in its region.
Mrs Mogherini said that other issues such as Iran’s development of ballistic missiles and its role in increasing tensions in the region had to be dealt with separately from the nuclear deal. Mr Trump has suggested they should be dealt with together. “The deal is working,” said Mrs Mogherini. “It is delivering on its main goal, keeping the Iranian nuclear programme in check”.
Mr Johnson echoed those comments, saying it was “important” the ministers had come together “as Europeans to express a common view”.
He also used the chance to meet Mohammed Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, to raise the plight of Nazanin Zaghariratcliffe, a dual Iranian-british citizen detained in Iran since April 2016 on charges of spying.
‘We think it is a considerable diplomatic accomplishment. I don’t think anybody has come up with a better idea’