Warning shots fired at US amid scramble to save Iran nuclear deal
Regime change in Tehran is not the objective, says Foreign Secretary ahead of crunch talks in Brussels
BORIS JOHNSON has cautioned against seeking regime change in Tehran and warned the United States not to target British businesses in its quest to sink the Iran nuclear deal.
Speaking ahead of talks between European and Iranian foreign ministers over the future of the nuclear agreement, the Foreign Secretary considered the Iran deal “vital” to global security and said Britain remained “fully committed to upholding it”.
“We will look at potential options for supporting continued sanctions relief for Iran to ensure we meet our commitments under the deal, as well as calling on Iran to continue to abide by the restrictions the deal places upon their nuclear programme,” Mr Johnson told Parliament.
He called on America “to avoid any actions that could prevent the remaining parties to the agreement from meeting their commitments under the deal – including delivering sanctions relief through legitimate trade”.
After the meeting, the EU’S foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, speaking on behalf of all parties, told reporters that it and the E3 – the UK, Germany and France – had agreed to “deepen our dialogue at all levels”.
She told reporters there had been some “good exchanges”, adding; “I would say all-in-all it was a positive meeting.” Mr Johnson left Brussels without speaking to reporters.
The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action offered Iran relief from international sanctions in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear programmes.
President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the agreement and said he would reimpose maximum sanctions.
Iran has threatened to resume its nuclear activities unless Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, the other signatories, promise to protect the trade and economic benefits of the deal from renewed US sanctions.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, arrived in Brussels yesterday following meetings on salvaging the deal in Beijing and Moscow. He attended a summit with Mr Johnson, Jean-yves Le Drian and Heiko Maas, his French and German counterparts, yesterday evening.
Earlier, Mr Zarif called the talks with European officials “good and constructive”. After a meeting with Mrs Mogherini, he said: “We are on the right path to move forward ... whatever (is) decided should preserve and guarantee Iran’s rights.”
Separately, an Iranian government spokesman reiterated its threat to restart uranium enrichment.
“If our interests are not preserved, we will pull out of the deal and will resume our enrichment to 20per cent, or any level that we desire to,” Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, the government spokesman, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, reaffirmed their commitment to preserving the deal in a phone call yesterday, the Kremlin said.
Mr Trump’s withdrawal and his decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem has contributed to a growing rift with European governments over Middle East policy.
John Bolton, Mr Trump’s national security adviser, has publicly called for regime change in Tehran, and the reimposition of sanctions has raised suspicions that the White House is hoping to use economic pressure to bring down the Iranian government.
“I have to tell you that I do not believe that regime change in Tehran is the objective that we should be seeking,” Mr Johnson said.